On Swift Wings
by Saikoureality
Summary: This is a story with completely original characters, using the super-power system from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki. The story is about a mysterious school in New York that accepts children specialising in a certain area, all of which have the potential to develop a Stand, or a supernatural projection of that specialisation with superhuman abilities.
1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings

She tried the key once, and the door refused to open. Withdrawing it from the hole, she tried to flip it over, and turn the key once more. After some struggle, the door finally unlocked and the foreigner finally entered her apartment. Daisy Stratter sighed, collapsing onto the couch. She'd had a long flight from Australia to New York, coming overseas to study her passion of entomology at an American science specialist school. After a few minutes of simply sitting in silence and resting after her exhausting trip, Daisy began to unpack her suitcases, filling her new closet with dresses of varying colours and some more casual wear, and making her bed up with sheets she had brought of home, that reminded her of her family. She also placed a framed picture of her with her parents on the bedside table. At only sixteen, she was moving away from the country, away from the rolling fields of her home. It was daunting for any person to go through, but beyond that, on the flight to New York from Alice Springs, she had began developing something altogether strange.

A strange wasp-like creature had begun hovering around her. When she asked the person in the seat next to her why they were not afraid, as most people are if a wasp appears nearby, the businessman asked her why he should be scared. She deduced that this creature was not physical, since nobody besides her was seeing it. Even at this time she could not tell if it was a hallucination, or if it was something supernatural. She unpacked her laptop and hooked it up to the internet that was in place within the apartment complex. She began browsing the web for something similar to her story. A mysterious creature, invisible to other people… Surely there were some stories on the Internet that matched her own. Something came up, a result from a spiritual website of sorts. People with ghostly figures that were not always human, and had supernatural abilities. These spirits were bound to their master, and fought by their side in acts of self-preservation or of violence. These things…

"They're called… Stands, huh? That's what this site calls them?" Daisy looked around. She didn't want to believe such a sketchy source, but she could not deny how uncanny these reports resembled what she could gather of her condition. She decided to experiment with this so-called Stand. Firstly, the page instructed that all Stands should have a trigger word that summons them. A name, if you wanted to call it that. Daisy gulped, looking down at her shaking hands. She thought of what it looked like on the plane. A wasp with hollow eyes and a mask covering its head. Its abdomen was abnormally large, and its stinger heavy. However, it floated and danced about the plane with an odd grace and agility, at least for a wasp of that size. She decided on a name. "Bullet with Butterfly Wings?"

At that moment, the wasp re-appeared, in its complete glory. Daisy looked at it in awe. "Okay… now, what do you do?" Her Stand flew over to her shoulder, perching onto it. She then began to develop a pair of wasp wings, which burst out of her back and through her dress. She screamed, despite there being no pain. "Wh-What did you do? How did I just grow wings?" She bit her lip a little. "Hold on… I was thinking about your wings as I asked what you did. Just maybe…" Daisy began to think about the horn of a rhinoceros beetle, and at that moment a rhinoceros beetle horn sprouted from her forehead. "I understand now. It seems like I can gain the body parts of insects, is that right?" The wasp nodded slightly. "Alright!" She returned her body to normal. "What a bizarre ability. It must have come from my love of insects, there's no other explanation." She collapsed on the couch once more. "What a tiring day. I have school tomorrow, too. Jeez, this is such a mess."

Stand Name: "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"

Stand User: Daisy Stratter

Power: D

Range: B

Speed: A

Durability: D

Precision: A

Potential: A


	2. Eulogy

The school building was intimidating. Modern, overbearing, clean, controlled. Daisy shuddered as she walked into the hallways, still tired after the strange happenings of the previous day, and learning about Stands. One sentence on the website she had found still resonated in her mind, and silently terrified her.

"Stand Users and Stand Users will always attract."

Did that mean she was accepted to the school not for her knowledge, but as a result of fate? Is that why her Stand made itself known now, of all times? Was she the one in control, or was that weird wasp really what held all the power? These questions were buzzing in the back of her mind, but the ruckus quelled after she saw a girl of a similar build to her own being pushed around in the hall by three tough-looking guys and one lean, overly pretty girl. One of the muscleheads spoke up first.

"Oi, nerd! Too busy with your nose stuck in a book to listen to what we have to say now, are ya?" The victim pushed up her glasses, sighing.

"I told you, I don't care if you push me around." Another one of the guys slammed a punch into her torso.

"Well, if pushing doesn't work, we can send you to the hospital then! Ya lame freak!" Daisy gulped. She could use her Stand to fight off the bullies; neither they nor the strange victim would know. She silently summoned Bullet with Butterfly Wings, but had no idea how this insect Stand could attack. She supposed that its stinger would work, but it was so huge and heavy it could cause a lot of damage and she didn't want that to happen. However, when she looked back at the situation the victim was looking at her, and smiling. Could she see her Stand? Did that mean… this poor girl was also a Stand user? If so, why didn't she defend herself with it? The lanky girl spat on the other, chuckling. "Pretentious bitch. You think you're so smart, and so well-controlled. We'll break you one of these days."

The girl once again pushed up her glasses, rolling a plastic ball-bearing out into the hall. "Okay, okay. You keep trying."

The first bully punched her once more. "Shut it!" A moment passed before the victim's ball-bearing suddenly leapt from the floor, slamming into the back of the bully's skull, knocking him out. She smirked, turning to Daisy and gesturing for her to do something to help. Daisy was stunned. That was no Stand power… the ball never stopped spinning even after it stopped covering ground. That was a technique of some sort. The other two bullies fled in fear. They had no idea this wimpy-looking bookworm had that kind of seemingly-psychic ability. The pretty girl - possibly the ringleader of the bullying - was also terrified, and she fled also. Daisy walked over to this girl, and asked her a simple question.

"What kind of Stand do you have? You obviously can see mine, so I want to know yours." The bookworm sighed.

"God, I thought you'd at least ask my name, or if I was okay after two punches to the gut, or something." She chuckled. "You must be the new kid, right? My name is Anna-Rose, and welcome to the New York School for Specialist Children, or as the clued-in like to call it, America Stand School."

Daisy was almost knocked back by that. "Stand School? What do you mean by that?" Anna-Rose smiled politely.

"We'll speak at lunch break about it. You go see the principal and make sure you get to class on time." Daisy nodded, and walked off towards the principal's office. She had plenty of questions for this person.

Stand Name: "Eulogy"

Stand User: Anna-Rose Greene

Power: A

Range: E

Speed: B

Durability: D

Precision: A

Potential: C

Daisy, after a lot of walking around the school grounds, managed to find Anna-Rose sitting in the Physics classroom, eating her lunch and studying. She sat down next to her. "Okay, I need some answers." Anna-Rose nodded.

"Keep your voice down. Since you've decided to side with me, other Stand users won't be too happy. I'm kind of infamous at this school because of my Stand's powers." Daisy sighed.

"What are they, though? Your ball bearing trick wasn't a Stand, I can tell that just by how it moved. Does your Stand work a similar way to that technique?" Anna-Rose nodded.

"Kind of. You see, I've found that Stands develop as a result of an intense passion. People who are accepted into this school are either on the verge of getting a Stand or already have one. Some of the people who come do not have latent Stands, so they never develop and become delinquents, like those muscle-heads who were bullying me. That smart-ass Tiffany though, she has a Stand, but I don't know its power exactly. My power, Eulogy, uses the Spin I just used as self-defence to increase the power of its movements. It has perfectly spherical shapes in joints on its palms and knuckles, and I can spin those with some precise manipulation of movement in order to use Rotation Energy."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. I just got bombarded with a lot of information all at once, and I don't understand it." Daisy sighed. "I only got a Stand yesterday, I need a little bit of a buffer to understand this "Spin" thing you're talking about without sensory overload."

Anna-Rose nodded, pulling a large steel sphere from her backpack. It began to rotate in her palm, giving off a strange light. "Your face is very well-proportioned. Outside of Stands it's rare to see the Golden Ratio so accurate in a face." She chuckled. "The Spin is a technique rooted in physics, my passion. After I began being bullied at my old middle school for being a bookworm, I studied to see if my knowledge could be applied to fighting. I discovered this old Italian martial art. The Spin, as old as physics itself, a technique that can be used to heal, or to battle. I began to train in learning rotation, in finding the Golden Ratio as a guide for powerful Rotation attacks. As I learned, I developed a powerful Stand to utilise my immense passion for learning the Spin. The reason Tiffany wants me gone is because of Eulogy, and my Spin. The fact that I don't even need my Stand to beat her must infuriate her greatly."

Daisy waited a few moments to make sure Anna-Rose was done speaking. "Sheesh, that's a way better backstory than I have. All my Stand uses is my love of bugs. I mean, did you know that leaf-cutter ants actually have mandibles sharp enough to slice human skin, and if they were even the size of scissors they'd be strong enough to snip through bone? I think that's pretty cool."

Anna-Rose laughed out loud. "Yeah. That is pretty cool. What does your Stand do, then? It looks really scary."

"It lets me change my body to give me bug-like features. For example, I can grow bee wings." Daisy smiled. "Otherwise, I have no clue." The bell that signified the end of lunch rang then. Daisy stood up and curtseyed to Anna-Rose. "Thank you so much for telling me all about that stuff. I'll make sure to be careful from now on." She left the classroom, having completely forgotten to ask what the Golden Ratio was.


	3. They Might Be Giants

Anna-Rose straightened out her jumper a little as she walked to school. She was actually looking forward to going, now knowing that that new kid had decided to be friendly with her despite the risk. Perhaps this was going to place a larger target on both of their backs, but until anything was solidified Anna-Rose was happy. However, this happiness was only short-lived, as a shortish boy shoved her aside as he walked. Removing a plastic ball-bearing from her pocket just in case, she walked over to the boy, quite aggravated. "What was that for? What grudge have you got against me?" The kid chuckled.

"Who, me? You were just in the way, that's all."

Anna-Rose grumbled. "You're that high-and-mighty, huh? You think you live in a world where you deserve to take what you please? It doesn't work like that." The boy snickered.

"You're from that snarky private school, aint'cha? The School for Specialist Children or whatever it is? Let me tell ya something, snob. I run South Brooklyn Trade School, and I bet someone as wimpy as you is pretty low on the food chain in a private institution." He turned around. He was obviously of African American descent, and hid his hair with a reddish beanie. He cleaned up the collar of his coat and chuckled. "But if you think a weakling like you really stands a chance against the top student and the student leader of a tough trade school, go right ahead and try me."

After a split second, Anna-Rose hurled her ball at the boy with high rotation. Sadly, his face was littered with pimples which threw off her Golden Ratio. The ball struck his cheek and spun in, shocking him. However, he flicked the ball away, and it bounced back to Anna-Rose. "What the hell was that? You might be tricky, but that was a plastic ball, after all. Not even metal. Lemme show you what true pain is." He reached out a hand, and the lid of one of the metal trash cans on the sidewalk flew to him. Anna-Rose chuckled.

"Cool Stand you have there. What do you call it, hm?"

The boy was taken aback. "What? You're not pissing yourself? Sheesh, looks like I actually need to throw a punch at a girl. Listen here," he noted, "Delaware Fitzpatrick is not a woman-beater. I'm only doing this to teach a stuck-up nerd a lesson."

Anna-Rose sighed. "If I can help it, I don't want to have to fight you either. Drop your weapon and leave, I don't want any drama with you or your Stand." Suddenly, Delaware threw a tough punch to Anna-Rose's gut. Luckily, his hand slammed against her Stand's stomach as she had managed to summon it to just barely protrude from her body and block the blow. Delaware was stunned once more. "You… you have a power like mine… is this what you keep calling a "Stand"? How dare a nerdy chick like you have such an ability!" The metal lid curled around his fist, and he threw another punch. Anna-Rose summoned the full form of her Stand, Eulogy, to block it with its own fist. Eulogy looked feminine and sleek, with such a similar build to Anna-Rose that it was easy to see that if she exercised they would be doubles. Its matte black and grey colour scheme reflected Anna-Rose's calculated nature.

"I warned you. Withdraw now."

Delaware was fuming. "My power… They Might Be Giants, that's what I call it, it can manipulate metal. I'll just trap you in a cage before you can beat me!" A dishevelled metallic lump began to protrude from Delaware's right arm, and he swung with his metal-coated left once more. Eulogy blocked the swing, but was unprepared for the car door that slammed its right side hard. Anna-Rose felt the bones in her arm fracture as her Stand was hit by the attack.

"Ugh… man, that hurts. I didn't want to have to fight back, but…" She held up her left hand to measure the strange shape of They Might Be Giants. She hadn't quite reached the level of Spin mastery she had read about where instances of Golden Ratio would appear to users in rectangles that gave them a guide for increased rotation power. After a few moments, she saw it. The pattern of dips in the metal was an instance of Golden Ratio! "That will do."

Eulogy threw a punch at Delaware's Stand, the ball embedded in its knuckle spinning at high speed. However, its black surface was so perfect it was impossible to see the rotation. Delaware attempted to block it with his right arm, but the punch rotated so perfectly that it tore his arm away, tearing some muscles, before slamming into his shoulder. The trade student screamed in pain.

"How? Surely your power can't punch through metal! What was that strength?" Anna-Rose sighed, adjusting her glasses, and using Eulogy's rotation to set her fractured bones.

"Eulogy's fists have balls embedded in those outer joints. The trick I used to spin that ball in your face apply to Eulogy's fists as well. It's a technique I call the Spin Fist. However, your Stand, unlike yourself, has an instance of the Golden Ratio. As a reference, I used They Might Be Giants to land a Super Spin Fist on you, which can easily rip through metal as thick as a car door, let alone a trash can's lid.

Delaware growled. "Well… you're no weakling, I suppose. I shouldn't have acted so facetious towards you." He smiled weakly. "I can fix up your bone, if you want. There's some internal bleeding, too, so if I manipulate the calcium in your bones and the iron in your blood…" He waved a hand over Anna-Rose's right side. Suddenly, she began to feel less pain. "There, I fixed it up for you. Throwing the door at you was a bit rash on my part."

Anna-Rose nodded. "I've had worse thrown at me. I'm glad you're not a complete ass, unlike most of the people at my school."

Delaware chuckled. "Not a fan of the snobs, huh?" Anna-Rose smiled.

"Well, most private communities need a scapegoat, someone to pick on and ostracise. It keeps them sane. As for me, I have my Spin training to keep me going."

Delaware nodded. "Well, you're good at it. See ya…?"

"It's Anna-Rose. Will we see each other again?" She looked over at Delaware, another potential friend who at least made sense after taking that beating he did.

"I come past here every day. So maybe." He waved, walking off. Anna-Rose went her seperate way, towards the hell of an establishment she called America Stand School.

Stand Name: "They Might Be Giants"

Stand User: Delaware Fitzpatrick

Power: E

Range: B

Speed: D

Durability: A

Precision: B

Potential: A


	4. Life In Cartoon Motion

"Anna, I don't understand this. Can you explain how cosine rule works again?" Daisy stared down her Mathematics homework as if a Stand was going to leap out of it at any moment. School was tough, but luckily she was acing her Specialist classes. However, Mathematics was compulsory, and she was rubbish at it. Some of the Mathematics Specialists were absolute whizzes, and one of them, she noticed, even used his Stand to take extra notes. Anna-Rose was a Physics Specialist, so she was still great at equation solving, especially compared to her, but not quite on the level of the pure math junkies.

"Yeah, it's easy, you just have to-" At that moment, the doorbell rang. Daisy stood up to answer it, but was greeted by a boy of African American descent, about 18, with a pimply face and a red beanie. Anna-Rose was shocked. "Delaware, how did you get here? This isn't even my home, damn it!" Delaware chuckled.

"I live here. My parents have split, so I moved into my own place, and it's downstairs. You two were being noisy, so I came over to tell you to shut up and what do you know, you're here. What a coincidence." Daisy was shocked.

"You two know each other? Delaware came to greet me when I first moved in." Anna-Rose nodded.

"We fought a few days ago. He's a Stand User as well, with the power to control metal." Daisy nodded. She had her suspicions… Stand Users attract other Stand Users. That sentence jumped back into her mind when she thought about it. It must have been fate that Anna-Rose and Delaware fought, and fate that she moved into the apartment above his.

Delaware interjected. "Daisy, you got a Stand too? What does yours do?" Daisy blushed a little.

"My Stand lets me change parts of my body into bug parts. It also manifests as a wasp, so it's really fast and has a good range." Anna-Rose looked at her quizzically, and she kept speaking. "I only got it the day I moved here, so I'm still experimenting with it."

Delaware nodded. "Cool. I bet you're an expert on bugs, huh? I mean, I have this theory that the reason my power has to do with metal is because I'm working so hard to become a metalworker when I grow up. It's the family business, after all. Fitzpatrick Shelving." Delaware sighed. "Though, since my parents divorced I really haven't seen much of my dad, so I dunno if I even want to go into the family business."

Daisy huffed. "Why do you two have such interesting pasts? I'm just a farm girl that really likes bugs." She collected herself and stood up. "Hey, Anna-Rose, let's go back to your place. I'll drop you off there and head back here. I'm tough, I can stick up for you."

Anna-Rose chuckled a little. "Says the girl whose entire superpower is turning into insects."

Daisy growled. "Hey, I know 20 species of caterpillar that could kill you on contact. Want me to test my knowledge?"

Delaware chuckled. "God, catfights are entertaining, even between Stand users."

The two girls turned to him and sighed. "You need to get a life," Daisy muttered.

The streets of New York are generally well-lit even at night, so the walk to Anna-Rose's home in New York proper from the Brooklyn apartment complex wasn't incredibly long. All that was really dangerous was the busy Brooklyn Bridge, however tonight it was empty. Daisy was unnerved. "Normally this place is always congested… what's going on?" She suddenly caught a glimpse of an odd manhole cover in the centre of the road. "Wait… this is a bridge. What's that manhole doing there? There's nowhere to go, surely."

Delaware used They Might Be Giants's power to try and lift the manhole cover, but strangely, it wasn't made of metal. "What in the hell… what could it be made of?" The cover began to slowly turn as something opened it from underneath.

Daisy and Anna-Rose readied their Stands for a fight, just in case. "It must be a Stand doing that… there's no other explanation!" Anna-Rose in particular was tense; this power was familiar to her. After a few tense moments, a seventeen-year-old boy rose up from the ground. His clothing was fashionable and artistic, and behind him was a cartoony sketch. It had to be his Stand. Anna-Rose was taken aback. This was someone who had bullied her in the past. Alfonse Calpenso, an Italian Art Specialist with a fearsome Stand.

"Why are you here, Alfonse?" Anna-Rose confronted her former tormentor. Alfonse responded coolly.

"Why, I had decided that you and your new friend were getting too close. You don't deserve friendship, you flimsy weakling, and I'll scrub out that artistic mistake next to you!" Daisy gulped.

Anna-Rose began to whisper to her allies. "Alfonse's Stand is named Life In Cartoon Motion. It can't attack conventionally, but it can use cartoon tropes and make them real. So, you know those oversized bombs or disobediences of physics in cartoons?" Daisy and Delaware nodded. "He can make them exist in reality. That also means he can counter-act my Spin by spinning wildly himself. I'm rather useless against him."

Daisy chuckled. "Well, let's give him a show then. Okay, Delaware?" Delaware nodded.

"This bastard is gonna get some if he's one of those snobby pricks who goes to Specialist." He cracked his knuckles before using the metal cables of the bridge to fly up into the air. Daisy, on the other hand, sprouted a pair of butterfly wings to float up, the wasp-like Bullet with Butterfly Wings flying off to attack Alfonse with its heavy stinger. Alfonse sprouted a huge fly swatter to try and smack Daisy's Stand to the floor, but Bullet hung back, before shooting off its stinger at high speed towards Alfonse. The art student panicked and tried to dodge, but the stinger slammed hard into his arm.

"Oww! God, that really hurts!" He materialised a huge pair of tweezers and pulled out the stinger after some effort. It looked as if there was no damage to him at all. Daisy was in complete shock. Her Stand had shown off a new power, but against this fearsome foe it meant nothing at all. This was intense. Could they even beat this kid, who used cartoon logic to fight?

Stand Name: "Life In Cartoon Motion"

Stand User: Alfonse Calpenso

Power: -

Range: D

Speed: -

Durability: E

Precision: A

Potential: D

Daisy and Delaware hovered in mid-air, both completely stunned at Alfonse's ability to shrug off a powerful attack like the stinger shot that Daisy's Stand had launched. Anna-Rose, on the other hand, was trying to see through the thick darkness of the bridge. She knew Alfonse's face was very well-proportioned, and would definitely allow her to throw a Super Spin attack at him, but her poor vision mixed with the darkness blocked her from doing so at a distance. She was going to need to close in, and with the art Specialist's Stand that would be a tough one.

"Damn," Delaware gritted his teeth, "does he have crowns on his teeth or something I can use? Surely he carries a pen around if he's an art snob, but I can't tell." Daisy was also suitably confounded.

"What an intense ability. However…" Daisy grinned. "I have an idea. Delaware, cover for me, I'm going to try something."

Delaware was shocked as Daisy flew back into the shadows. "What the hell? You can't just leave us here!"

Alfonse had grown tired of waiting, and pulled a gun out of the hammerspace his Stand gave him. "Anna-Rose, if you won't back down, I'm going to shoot you and your friends. You deserve nothing." Delaware smirked; obviously this snob hadn't picked up on his power. Alfonse readied the gun, and fired; however, instead of a bullet, a party flag came out. Alfonse had grabbed a popgun by mistake. "Oh, crap. Hold on, I know I have it somewhere…" After pulling a series of outlandish things from his pocket, Alfonse finally pulled a revolver out, and made sure it was real. "Alrighty… Prepare to die, nerd."

And that was when Alfonse was bitten on the leg by fire ants. Daisy emerged from the shadows behind Alfonse, red mandibles protruding from her cheeks. She waved at Delaware and Anna-Rose cheekily before biting Alfonse as well. The art student freaked out upon seeing this monstrous person attack him, and he sprinted forward, shooting at Daisy. Without delay, Delaware pushed the bullet into the bitumen using his own Stand power. Daisy retracted the mandibles, walking over to the terrified Alfonse.

"Did you know that ants use pheromones to co-ordinate fights with rival colonies? I bet you do now." She smirked, the strange aroma surrounding her becoming more intense, and the fire ants biting down harder. Alfonse glared at Daisy.

"How dare you defend her… I will kill you here!" He leapt up, his legs now coated in bandages that crushed the fire ants. Daisy was completely shocked.

"When did you have time to do that?" However, her question was met with a cartoony bomb, held by the sketchy figure of Life In Cartoon Motion. She was frozen with fear, rooted to the spot. Alfonse rolled the bomb over to Daisy and fled. Anna-Rose ran forward, the light of the fuse guiding her, and she got to Daisy with about ten seconds before the bomb went up.

"Daisy, hold still, and let me look at your face." Eulogy was summoned, and the Stand gripped the bomb like a baseball and lined up a pitch at the art Specialist. Daisy gulped.

"I-Is it about the Golden Ratio or whatever? I remember you said my face was very clean…" She began to shake with fear.

"Yes, Daisy. I'm short-sighted, so in this darkness if you move I won't be able to do my Super Spin properly, and I could miss." Eulogy wound up its throw, the ball in its palm spinning rapidly. Delaware dropped down next to them, and made sure Anna-Rose's throw would land. Alfonse didn't even think to look back. "Three… two… one…" Eulogy pitched the bomb, and it began to rotate incredibly rapidly, tearing through the air. Two seconds to detonation. One. At the very last moment, it slammed into Alfonse's back, before exploding and dealing great damage to his Stand, which didn't seem to be very durable at all.

Alfonse hit the floor hard, skidding a short way. Delaware walked up to him, smirking. "So, snob, are you gonna keep going around harassing my friends?" Alfonse looked up, tears clouding his scarred eyes.

"N-No… Never again."

Anna-Rose and Daisy looked to each other. Daisy was the first to vocalise what they were both thinking. "You'd assume he was the one who beat him, not us."


	5. A Tour Of Manhattan

Summer was beginning to set in. Anna-Rose was sat in front of a small desk fan doing physics problems, while Daisy was correcting errors in her entomology workbook. Having come from the Australian outback Daisy didn't understand how people couldn't bear heat that was barely spring weather for her. "You look stupid sitting in front of that fan," she muttered.

Anna-Rose sat upright and looked over to her. "We can't all be inhuman like you are, Daisy. It's freaking hot." Daisy shook her head.

"It's barely thirty degrees. You're overreacting. I'm used to heat much worse than this, and back at home I generally had to do ploughing in that kind of heat."

"Note how you said you're used to it. I'm not you." Anna-Rose went back to her work. After the incident with Alfonse, the two of them had been sticking together out of school more often, in case another jealous or deranged student with a Stand attacked them. However, after Alfonse arrived back at school from the hospital, people were tending to steer clear of the two girls and their fearsome Stand powers.

Delaware knocked at the apartment door, and Anna-Rose let him in. "What on earth are you two doing inside with this weather? Come outside, I'm going to shoot some hoops." Daisy shut her book and stood.

"I don't know my way around New York yet. I'd come play basketball with you if you showed me around town a bit." Delaware chuckled, pulling down his red beanie.

"Well, I can't say no to that request. Anna-Rose, will you be fine on your own?" The physics Specialist looked up and nodded.

"After Alfonse, I don't think people are going to be chomping at the bit to raid one of our apartments. I'll be okay."

Delaware acknowledged this, and the two left the apartment complex. Delaware looked over at Daisy, and smiled. "So, do you have any idea where the sports centre is?" Daisy shook her head, and the Brooklyn native sighed. "Sheesh, this is going to be a long tour. You know where the general store is, right?"

"Yeah. I'm not completely dense. I have to eat." The redhead rolled her eyes a little. "Of course I know where the damn store is."

Delaware nodded. "I assumed so, but it never hurts to ask, you feel me?"

"I guess." She sighed. She was starting to feel a little homesick, and with all the crazy things she'd been through over the last couple of weeks, she really wasn't sure if she wanted to keep going to that bizarre school. "Hey, Delaware… what kind of philosophy do you live by?"

Delaware was shocked. "Well, I guess I like to live in the moment, and do whatever I get a chance to. I'm the type of person that wants to live in the fast lane. That's why I hate people who get fast tracked to where they want to go without effort." Daisy smiled, gesturing to herself.

"My whole life, nobody cared about my interest. Before coming to America I'd be lucky if I saw a fly in the dead heat of the outback, and every year you'd have to spray the crops with pesticide to kill the moth grubs. Insects have always been my passion, and I learnt whatever I could in books, or online. I guess in that regard, I feel the same way as you about people who don't put in any effort to become clever, or strong, or anything. That's why I respect you and Anna-Rose, I suppose. You two have both put in a lot of effort to be so talented, and so powerful as Stand users. I mean, not everyone can stop a bullet, you know."

Delaware blushed a little. "Hey, I'd feel terrible if I didn't stop it."

"That you would." Daisy giggled, looking around. "Uh, where are we?"

"We're at the courts. You promised me a game." Delaware called out to two people sitting in the bleachers. One of them was a tall woman of African American descent, and the other was an athletic Anglo-Saxon male. Both of them looked about Delaware's age.

The girl spoke up first. "Del, who is this skinny chick and what the hell is she doin' here?"

Delaware sighed, trying to calm her down. "She's chill, Sally, don't worry. She moved here from Australia recently, and we're neighbours. The athletic boy placed his hand on Sally's shoulder.

"I trust her. I mean, come on, that awkward smile can't be from a bad person."

Daisy tried her best to make her smile not awkward after it was pointed out. "Uh… hi, I'm Daisy. Nice to meet you two." Sally shook her hand vigorously.

"Anyone Del and Liam trust is a friend of mine, girl. You're from Australia, huh? You don't look like you wrestle crocodiles." She chuckled, and Daisy did as well.

"No, no, I'm not that type. Though I did once catch a dingo in a headlock to stop it from stealing a sheep. No joke."

Liam walked up to Daisy and gave her a bear hug. Delaware pulled him away before he did some real damage. "Sorry, Daisy. Liam here's a hugger and a gym junkie." Daisy checked for cracked ribs, before cracking another awkward smile.

"Anyway, I thought you said we were playing some basketball?" Sally passed Daisy a ball.

"You start. You might be a country girl, but here in Brooklyn we play city ball. Just 'cause you're new to America it doesn't mean we won't school you."

Liam decided to team with Daisy, who began playing a speedy offensive. Delaware and Sally were great players, but Daisy was moving so nimbly that she was tough, but not impossible, to catch. She gave Liam quite a few lay-ups, while Delaware was also scoring a fair few points when he could get the ball in his hands. After a half hour of playing, Liam and Daisy had far and away won the game.

"Good game, country girl. Seems you're not so lost out here after all." Daisy smiled, shaking Sally's hand once more.

"Same to you, city slicker. You're tougher than I thought."

Delaware parted ways with his friends and he and Daisy walked towards home. After some thought, Daisy approached him with a question. "Does Sally have a Stand?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Delaware brushed off the question.

"Does she? It kind of felt like she did, but I can't tell."

"To be honest, I don't know. I've never used They Might Be Giants anywhere near her, because I'm afraid she'll think I'm a freak." Delaware smirked. "Though, to be honest, she's one hell of a good sportswoman. She wants to be an Olympian, and that is certainly a goal that would awaken a Stand user."

"So, if she has a Stand, she probably thinks the same way you do about yours?"

"Yeah, if you look at it that way, I guess." He dragged his feet a little. "Have you spoken with your family at all since coming here? About your Stand, about anything?"

"Pfft, of course I have." Daisy chuckled a bit as they arrived at the apartment complex. "See you, I suppose." Delaware nodded, opening the door for both of them, and they wordlessly walked back to their apartments. Daisy arrived home to see that Anna-Rose had left. She walked over to the phone, and dialled her parents' number.

"Hello? …Oh, hi, dad. Is mum there? …wait, what? What do you mean? Is she alright? What happened?" Daisy was starting to get anxious, as her father described something horrific. "Uh, do you need me back home? Yeah, I know I wanted to come to this school, but if you need my help I'll come back. Alright, if you say so, dad. I'll see you at Christmas. Love you too." She hung up, on the verge of tears. Her poor mother, suffering from something as horrible as schizophrenia… she wanted so badly to go home to comfort her father, but school was important and she understood that.

"Only a few weeks until summer. I'll go home then."

New York School for Specialist Children, Rule Number 1:

No bullying. If there is any unnecessary violence or abuse towards another student in school hours, it will be punished.


	6. Black Bugs

Daisy was cruising through the last class of the day, paying the bare minimum attention to the teacher who was droning on about a book the class was studying in English. She looked around the room, and it seemed that almost every other student was feeling the same way as her. Bored. She continued looking around, until she came to a girl sitting behind her who locked eyes with her, and stared relentlessly. After a few seconds, Daisy looked back ahead. Was that person staring at the lesson, or at her?

She thought a bit about it, and contemplated using her Stand to test if she was a threat, but then she remembered the rules of the school. No bullying, no illegality, no cheating on exams. If the teacher could see Stands, he might suspect her of using her flying Bullet with Butterfly Wings to look at other people's notes. If she had a humanoid Stand like Anna-Rose, maybe she could get away with it, but in the situation she was in it was too much of a risk to justify doing it. Still, she felt some kind of feeling eating away at her, as if that girl was dangerous.

The school bell rang, and Daisy began to pack up. She had a feeling of being watched, despite everyone doing the same thing she was, packing their bags with all of their paraphenalia. She looked over her shoulder, and the girl from earlier was staring directly at her again. This time she was sure it was at her, and not at anybody else. Daisy was silently terrified. Was she a Stand user? She had no way to tell for sure. With butterflies invading her stomach, she left the school grounds and headed for home quickly.

Daisy sped into her apartment and locked the door behind her. Something was watching her, she was sure of it. A faint buzzing hit her ears at times, but she was completely unsure if it was just summer insects, or a drone flying overhead, or something supernatural. Either way, something was definitely wrong. It could be that girl from class attacking her, but she was so paranoid that she thought it was possible for it to be anyone in her class, not just that creepy girl. Or maybe it was someone else, that had walked past her on her way home. Or she could be sick, or schizophrenia might have been given to her genetically. Anything in her mind was possible, and so many things were running through her brain at once that she grew even more paranoid.

At that moment, something began to nibble at her skin under her sleeves. She pulled them back, but nothing was there. Daisy was completely afraid, and at this strange condition's mercy. "Please, please, stop doing this to me!" She began to slam on the floor in agony at the sheer terrifying nature of either this Stand or her newfound illness. It had to be one of the two, that was something she was sure of.

Delaware, hearing the crashing from above, thought Daisy was being attacked, and ran up the stairs to find the door locked. "Crap. You okay?" No answer. He used They Might Be Giants to force the lock undone, and opened the door to her apartment to find Daisy scratching at her skin with mantis-like scythes. He, unlike her, saw large black parasites clinging to her body all over, burrowing into her skin and injecting some kind of serum into her.

"Daisy, what the hell is going on? Is that an enemy Stand?" He walked over to Daisy, but she tried to chase her away.

"Get away from me! Stay away, please! Something is going to hurt me if I don't act, but I can't tell what it is! What is it?" She began to tear up from the pain and fear.

Delaware grunted. "This Stand on your body! Whose is it? Do you know?"

"There's no Stand that I can see! What are you talking about?" Daisy stood weakly, her left arm missing patches of skin both from the black bugs and her scratching.

"Could anyone have been attacking you at school? Maybe on the way home?"

"Yes! ANYONE could!" She was obviously terrified. "You see a Stand?"

"You don't?" Delaware sighed and rubbed his face. "Seriously, what on Earth is this power… the ability to make someone see a different view of the world, and create such intense paranoia. What monster would have a Stand like this?"

Stand Name: "Black Bugs"

Stand User: ?

Power: E

Range: A

Speed: E

Durability: C

Precision: B

Potential: B

Delaware left Daisy's apartment. The poor girl was infected with a Stand that had placed black parasites all over her body, invisible to her, and induced severe bouts of paranoia. She was slowly pulling herself apart trying to destroy this invisible threat that she could only feel as itching and the buzzing sounds they made, however without using her own Stand she was helpless. Angered by how horrifying the situation was, Delaware rang up Anna-Rose. The physics Specialist picked up and answered calmly.

"Hello?" After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Delaware spoke.

"Some snob from your school is making Daisy kill herself slowly. It's a Stand she can't see despite her being the victim. Do you know of any Stand user there that uses black parasites, or induces paranoia?"

Anna-Rose was stunned, but suddenly became serious. "No. I don't know any Stand like that at my school, though you always get school myths. I heard one story of black bugs that ate away at a guy who had bullied an old outcast until he killed himself. Tell me, did Daisy get any weird looks at school?"

"She's completely gone. She hardly makes sense when I talk to her." Delaware sighed. "So I'm looking for a weird social outcast with the power to make people paranoid? Can you help?"

"I have study to do." Anna-Rose turned the page in her book loudly.

"Your friend is slowly killing herself, and you're more concerned with good grades than her wellbeing?" Delaware rolled his eyes. "I guess you are a snobby bitch after all. I'll do it myself." He hung up before kicking the wall. "Why do I trust people like that? Oh well, I guess I have a chick to look for."

Anna-Rose sighed, tossing her phone across the room. Truth be told, she was terrified for Daisy, but she understood what was going on. The person with that Stand… didn't want to end up on the bottom of the food chain.

Delaware stormed out of the apartment complex, knocking into a scrawny-looking girl with pink highlights in her jet black hair. He looked back to see her ragged brown shirt and torn stockings and thought she must be homeless, but someone with dyed hair probably wouldn't be homeless. He walked over to the girl, making sure not to make eye contact with her. "What's your name and why are you hanging around this building?"

"M-Me? I'm waiting for my friend to come out, and my name is Reggie. Why do you care?" Delaware chuckled.

"Oh, no reason. My friend is being currently eaten away by parasites in a corner of her apartment while she hallucinates and freaks out at the drop of a pin. I was just looking around to see if anyone knew what I could do to help. Do you?"

"Oh my, that sounds… that sounds like a handful. To be honest, you'd probably be better off going to a doctor than asking me." The girl stepped back. Delaware couldn't tell if it was fear or just the awkwardness. He fuzzed his vision a little by going cross-eyed before looking into her face. She was sweating a little, but it was hot. However, her strange eyes that had black spots dotting the sclera was something worth bringing up.

"Do you have something wrong with your eyes? An infection, a birth condition, something that explains the black dots in your whites?"

Reggie's jaw dropped. "You can see them? Oh no, oh no, oh no…" She began to bite her lower lip. "If you can see them, then you were talking about Black Bugs's victim… that's bad, that's very bad." She tried very hard to make eye contact with Delaware, who skilfully avoided it. "You see, that Anna-Rose was far too happy. If she gets too happy then people will come back to picking on me for amusement, and I don't want that, oh no. They say the rules are concrete, but when it's only one student they don't care. That's why I have to do this to the outcast's friend, make it look like suicide. I have to do it so I can be happy."

Delaware punched Reggie square in the nose, pulling a rod of steel from nearby to use as a bat. "You are scum. You would really kill a person in such a torturous way just to stop being bullied?"

"You don't understand! At Stand School, being the outcast is like torture in itself. There is no help, no salvation, until someone comes along who is weaker than you. They break you."

"I'm gonna break you if you don't cancel your messed-up Stand! How the hell do you gain a power like inducing paranoia?"

"My specialty… the reason I came to this school was because I specialised in psychology. But the other psychology Specialist, Tiffany… she's a monster. A wolf in sheep's clothing. She manipulates so many people into doing what she wants them to, so they attacked me for "trying to be like her". I lost any chance of having friends. She has a choke-hold on so many people, that if you dislike her, or she dislikes you, you're history. Until Anna-Rose came along and stood up to her, I was their target for bullying, or as they call it 'stress release'. Black Bugs developed because of that torment, and my knowledge of mental illness. It can turn mental illness into a physical feeling, and it eats away at you until you either kill yourself or become hollow inside. Just skin will remain."

"You…" Delaware bent the metal bar around Reggie's neck and choked her with it. "Stop your Stand's attack or I'll kill you! You're a monster!" Reggie simply chuckled.

"I-It doesn't matter… It's only been an hour, but enough of her vital organs will have been dissolved by Black Bugs's venom… even if she survives she won't be the same as she was! You lose, and I win!"

Delaware chuckled. "Question. Can your bugs eat each other?"

"Er… no, they can't, they regenerate when hit by their own venom, so they can't be killed by each other."

"Cool. Do you know what Daisy's Stand is?"

"No…" Reggie wasn't sure where this was going, but she was running out of air.

"It lets her change her body into any insect she likes. Is it ever possible for her to see Black Bugs, at all?"

"O-Only if someone else is infected." At that moment, Delaware glanced into Reggie's eyes, a single bug clinging onto his arm, which he summoned They Might Be Giants under to keep it from biting him. He couldn't see it, but the weight was enough to know. He loosened the bar to let Reggie breathe, but stuck it to the road.

"Don't move, I'll be right back with the girl you tried to kill."

And with that, he sprinted towards Daisy's apartment, up the stairs. He eventually made it back, and opened the door to see Daisy desperately clawing at her arms to try and get the bugs off. "Daisy, look up at my arm, please! You need to look at this bug, and turn into one! Do it right now, okay?"

The broken country girl gazed at the black bug for a fair while, before nodding. "If you say so." She turned into a Black Bug, and as the others continued to bite her, instead of sucking out her insides, the regenerative capabilities the bug had kicked in, and she began to heal. After a few minutes of this, Daisy was completely better. Delaware swatted all of the bugs off of her, and she turned back.

"Ugh, I feel sick… Delaware, what the hell is on your arm, man?" She swatted Delaware's bug off. "Sheesh, that was a trip and a half."

"Well, let's finish it quickly," Delaware added. "The Stand user's tied to the ground outside, if you want to get a hit in."

Daisy smirked. "Count me in."

The two walked outside, Daisy stretching her shoulders while Delaware cracked his knuckles.


	7. The Mach Speed Stand, Rocket

Athletics was neither Daisy's nor Anna-Rose's strong suit. The two jogged around the school oval on a summery afternoon, trying to get fit for the athletics day at the end of the week. With only one week beyond that until summer, Daisy couldn't think of anything other than her ill mother. Anna-Rose jogged a little closer to Daisy.

"Are you still feeling unwell after that Stand attack the other day? I'm very sorry I didn't help, but I was afraid the user would target me as well. She has a bad grudge against me, you see, but I'm glad Delaware was able to help you to escape Black Bugs's attack."

"Don't worry about it. That girl probably won't mess with you or I again for a while." Daisy chuckled a little. The last month or so had been an absolute blur, having learnt about the existence of Stands, and met some interesting people. It felt like it had gone so quickly. But now that the end of the semester was in sight, and she was looking forward to seeing her family again soon, the days seemed to drag on for longer and longer.

As the two were chatting, a boy in very slick athletic gear sped past them both. Anna-Rose was confused. "Huh, he must be new. Oh well, sporty kids generally get friends quickly, and if he's a Specialist in athletics, or even in running, he'll have a scary Stand. I just pray he's not impressionable."

"I dunno, people who specialise in sports generally don't have a lot going on upstairs. Someone like Tiffany, who's apparently so good at manipulating people, and already has a high footing on the social ladder…" Daisy shrugged. "Eh, unless he attacks us, let's not fight him. Seems like a waste of energy to me."

As if waiting for a cue, the athlete sped over to the two girls with alarming velocity. When he stopped, it became quite obvious that he had a rocket-pack strapped to his back. Anna-Rose, pretending not to notice, began speaking calmly to him. "Hello there. Are you new to the school?"

"Sort of." The boy didn't seem to trust Anna-Rose. "My name is Damien. You wouldn't be Anna-Rose, by any chance, would you?"

"I am…" Anna-Rose gulped. "How have you heard of me?"

"People at this school have told me you're a horrible person. That you attack innocents out of school hours, that you use your Specialist skills to fight people. Some say you're a criminal." He glared at Daisy. "And your friend is an accomplice whom you've shipped from another country so that you can have protection."

Anna-Rose chuckled. "Defamation really must go to stretches. I am not a crime lord, trust me. I get attacked by bullies constantly, they always want to get people against me. I defend myself using a technique I have studied based upon my Specialist area. If you'd rather believe people who lie and manipulate, go right ahead. As long as you don't attack me, I don't mind." She took off her headband, which had her plastic ball-bearings hidden inside, just in case this speedy kid attacked out of fear, or on a whim. Daisy coated her torso in beetle plating, thick enough to block a bullet from point blank, as a precautionary measure as well.

And then it came. Damien used his rocket-pack to speed himself into Daisy, punching her in the gut and cracking her armour. "Hm… so, she was correct. You two have the same abilities as I do, huh? What kind of a weak Stand just makes armour for you? I even broke it with one punch. How boring." Daisy chuckled, grabbing Damien's arm with her own right hand, and extending ant mandibles from her wrists into his arm, latching on with great strength.

"That would be where you're wrong. My Stand allows me to manipulate my body and change parts of it into the parts of insects. Now, if you speed back, you'll slice up your arm, but if you don't you're stuck." Damien tried to pull back, but the mandibles dug deeper into his arm, causing great pain.

"Ow! Damn you! How can your Stand be so versatile?" He struggled some more. "Ugh, this is too much. I'll have to…" He did a semi-backflip, and puffed heavy black smoke into Daisy's face. She broke out in a cough and dropped her grip to cover her nose and mouth, which Damien exploited to blast back.

"Not so fast!" Anna-Rose tossed a ball-bearing with Spin energy at Damien, and it smacked against his rocket-pack before dropping to the ground. "Damn, his Stand is too rigid for Spin to do anything using these plastic balls. If only I'd brought my Steel Balls, this would be fine…"

Daisy sighed. "Even with such a simple Stand, it could be the end of us."

Stand Name: "Rocket"

Stand User: Damien Leigh

Power: B

Range: E

Speed: A

Durability: A

Precision: D

Potential: D

Anna-Rose leapt away as fast as she could, as the speedster Damien and his rocket Stand rushed at her. She barely made it out of his firing line, before coming to a realisation. "Daisy, he can't turn! He has to stop to turn around!" Damien skidded to a stop before rushing at Anna-Rose again. Out of panic, the physicist summoned her Stand, Eulogy, to block the attack. Rotating the ball in its palm, Eulogy managed to make Damien slip and plant his face into the dirt.

Daisy quickly summoned Bullet with Butterfly Wings to shoot its stinger at the rocket pack in an attempt to jam it. The sharp stinger slammed into the athlete's Stand, spinning at high speed and beginning to drill into the metal of the rocket. Damien quickly started up his rocket once more, shooting through the dirt to get out of the stinger's firing line. Anna-Rose stood up, smiling at Daisy. "You're getting better at using your Stand."

Daisy nodded. "I've been practicing. My pillows are in shreds."

"And that rotation on the stinger, too… with some practice that could be used to harness Spin, you know." Anna-Rose chuckled, but Daisy simply shrugged.

"Spin's your thing, I don't wanna take that from ya."

Damien, after clearing his mind and face from the mud, glared at the two girls. "You two… your powers are scarier than I'd expected. The girl who told me about you said she knew you had Stands, but not what they did. I'll have to tell her." Anna-Rose stepped toward Damien, grumbling.

"She's manipulating you. New students to this school are easy prey for people like her, that are high on the social ladder." She gestured to herself. "This school is like a cult. People here generally seclude themselves in outside life, due to their abilities, and so the society of this school is everything to them. I know better than to believe in a cult." Anna-Rose seemed stoic, but she was shivering. Daisy didn't know if she was afraid, or remembering something painful, and didn't care to ask while there was a threat in front of them.

Damien shot forward, striking Anna-Rose head on. While she hadn't dropped her guard, the attack still hit her upper body hard, and she flew back, landing painfully on her shoulder. Daisy was stunned, and quickly pulled up her cellphone and began to film the situation as it unfolded. Damien pointed at the phone and shouted. "Hey! Stop filming, you don't have my permission to do that!"

"You're attacking my friend. I want to make sure just in case that this needs to be known." Daisy looked down at her phone. Damien's rocket-pack was invisible to the camera's lens. She knew Stands could only be seen by Stand users, but not even film could capture them. She didn't expect to see them through the camera but it still hadn't prepared her for the stark realisation.

"Who cares? You can't walk all over me, you know! People like you, who think you're so great…" He rushed forward. "You're the worst!"

Daisy sighed, summoning Bullet with Butterfly Wings in front of her. Damien clashed with the wasp Stand, stabbing the stinger into his chest. Daisy felt a huge amount of pain as the rocket-powered teen slammed into her Stand, but Damien was in an even worse condition. He pulled himself off of the heavy stinger, bleeding heavily. His pack disappeared in a puff of dust, and he collapsed. Daisy suddenly became terrified, and ran over to him in panic. "H-Hold on, you'll be fine, you'll be okay." She turned her hair into thin wasp stingers, snapped one off, and turned it back, before threading silk into it from a silk sac she had generated inside her wrist. "I'll patch you up, okay? Let me give you something to ease the pain…" She punched some numbing venom into her veins with the needle. "Keep your eyes open, alright? Do not fall asleep."

Damien could hardly speak. He simply nodded.

Daisy smiled weakly, and began to pull Damien's wounds back together with stitches. The hole that her Stand had made was being put back together rather well, and the heavy bleeding was slowing. After tightening the stitches up, she used more silk to make sure everything was taut and stuck firm. "That should do it. Can you move yet?" Damien didn't move at all. "I'll take that as a no. Give it a few minutes, then. After this, I'll get Anna-Rose to spin any broken bones back together for you. I'm so sorry for this."

Damien slowly stirred, and looked up at her saviour. "You… you saved my life after I tried to hurt you." Daisy wiped the blood from her own face. Her nose had been broken by the impact.

"Don't worry. I injured you, and if I killed you I'd never forgive myself."

"The kind of person you are is nothing like what she had told me…" Damien began to stand painfully. "I'm sorry for fighting with you and your friend."

Daisy chuckled, helping up Anna-Rose, who was now conscious. Anna-Rose spun her broken bones into place and sighed. "Daisy, call Delaware. I need some extra fixing up." Daisy nodded, picking up her phone, while the physics Specialist walked over to Damien.

"Do you know the secret of Tiffany's Stand?" Damien shook his head.

"She never showed me. Are you sure she's got one?"

Anna-Rose nodded, using Eulogy's palms to set Damien's broken bones. "Positive. She can see Stands, I have evidence of that."

The athlete sighed. "God, I'm an idiot for listening to her. I shouldn't have judged you like that."

"Not your fault. Tiffany's a sociopath. She gets what she wants by manipulating and controlling others. If this school is a cult, she's the cult's leader, and anyone who competes with her is the cult's enemy."

"It doesn't make me any less responsible for my actions. I'm sorry."

Anna-Rose sighed. "Well, just hold still. You're probably bleeding internally, so you'll need some more medical attention." A bruise was beginning to show on her jaw. "Things like this happen, and it's horrible that they do. Tiffany won't do anything to you with us in this condition, so as long as you are more aware of what she is capable of doing you'll be perfectly fine."

"But will you be?" Damien chuckled. "Sports day is at the end of the week. Assuming that the entire school attends, and that Tiffany's Stand works in secret, you're in more danger than ever.

Daisy chuckled. "You think she'll attack us? Well, I'm in contact with someone who's a student leader himself, and once we explain this to him he'll be pretty happy."

Anna-Rose was confused. "Happy? Why?"

Daisy smirked. "Tiffany seems like the kind of person that he'd love to teach a lesson."

New York School for Specialist Children, Rule Number 2:

No illegal actions may be performed by students. If a police officer is called to the school as a result of a student's action, or a police report is filed against a student that gives evidence of their guilt, they will be instantly expelled.


	8. Chess With The Queen

Tomorrow was sports day. Daisy was shivering as the school's so-called leader, Tiffany, sat across from her while she was eating her lunch. Anna-Rose had been in the hospital for the last couple of days due to her broken bones (At least, that was her cover; she was really just ducking out of school for a few days to try and practice her throwing) and she was alone. Tiffany began to speak. Her voice was soothing, but that fact alone was terrifying.

"Mind if I sit down here?" She seemed cheery. "Strange how a girl like you is sitting so far away from anyone else. Anyone would think you were lame."

Daisy was too frightened to even speak. This Tiffany, the master manipulator with a mystery Stand, was so incredibly strong that her charisma simply added to the unnerving atmosphere of the encounter.

"Tell me, do you play chess?" Tiffany pulled out a travel chessboard, placing it down on the table. "The pieces are magnetic. Would you like a game?"

"Sure." Daisy barely managed to speak. From what she understood, and especially after her fight with Damien a few days ago, Tiffany was not someone that simply played a friendly game with you. She had some reason for approaching here and now, while her enemy was dodging school. At any rate, Daisy made her first move. Tiffany instantly moved her own piece, smirking.

"I know a lot about you, Daisy. You may have only been here a short time, but my observations tell me what kind of a person you are. You would have been a great addition to my inner circle." She spoke with the calmness of a mafioso as she carefully analysed the chess game, while Daisy shuddered with every word. "It's just too bad that you chose her, I must say. Even your ability, from what I hear, is astounding."

Daisy played her next move. "So what if I have a strong ability? I'm from the outback, I'm made of tougher stuff than the stringy Americans you're used to toying with."

Tiffany nodded. "I'm aware of that. You have a strong sense of self, despite how much you lack confidence. I wonder what it is that makes you afraid… is it your mother? Do you miss her?"

Daisy bit down on the inside of her cheek, furious that this girl would bring up her sick mother. "What of it? You would try and control me with fear? I have friends outside this school, I don't need to rely on you or this place you hold dominion over."

Tiffany chuckled, playing her move. "Your demeanour is translating to the game. Do you see, Daisy? Your pawns are being pinned. In only a few turns, I shall hold your king captive." She smiled. "Insects are such beautiful creatures. Their communities have absolute group cohesion, controlled by a queen. That idea, that kind of a social structure, it simply thrills me to fantasise about. What if humans were that cohesive? Could one person control a huge group all by themselves?" She smiled, leaning in towards Daisy and sniffing her shirt. "Pheromones. The power of the body to create scents that influence the mind. Humans create these as much as any insect. You, Daisy, can control pheromones, can't you? You have extensive knowledge of it, and so you understand where I'm coming from."

Daisy made another move. "You're mad if you think you can control people with human pheromones. They have way simpler functions than the ones insects use them for."

Another move from Tiffany. "They do now, sure. Daisy, my inner circle is set up well for the future of this school, and eventually of this world. I have a chemist to create artificial pheromones, and a diplomat to teach me how to be more eloquent. I myself have studied psychology all my life, and I know how to perfectly own a human brain. Your knowledge of entomology would be perfect to finalise my goals, and together we could be queens of the human hive I will create. Do you not understand this? You and I could change the world for the better! Doesn't your curiosity itch to see what would happen?"

Daisy made a final move. "Checkmate."

Tiffany looked down at the board. Daisy had taken her queen with a queen of her own, and Tiffany's king was cornered with rooks. She chuckled, and packed up the chess set. "Think about what I said, alright? Would you prefer to live in order, or be plagued by chaos? This is your choice alone to make."

Daisy packed up her lunch, and sighed. "I won't make any promises."

"I do not expect you to." Tiffany smiled, a hint of scorn in her face. She had been beaten psychologically by some nobody from the country, which both impressed and infuriated her.


	9. Sports Day

Anna-Rose and Daisy began to stretch their legs, away from the other groups of students. They had been training for a couple of weeks to try and do somewhat acceptably in the events of the school's compulsory sports day. The argument for making it compulsory was that "it allows a break from the stresses of study, and gives athletic students to show their prowess in an otherwise academically driven school". The two girls, being academics, were naturally quite dispelled by this excuse. Daisy sighed, finishing up the stretches. "Why did you turn up? You had a great chance to skip the sports day."

Anna-Rose chuckled, putting contacts in and tucking her glasses away. "That'd be dishonest. Plus, attendance today is compulsory, they'd catch me if I skipped."

"Still, don't you remember what Damien said?" Daisy looked around for a moment, lowering her voice. "I'm really afraid for you, okay? Tiffany told me that-"

"Hold on, what? She spoke to you?" Anna-Rose was concerned. "She hardly speaks to anyone. She normally communicates through what she calls her "inner circle". Daisy, don't ever speak with her again, if she's targeting you personally she's even more of a threat than normal."

"That's just it. She said I'd have been useful. She wants to be like an insect queen. She wants control over the school; total control. The way she spoke about this like it was normal, and as if I understood her thinking… she's crazy, totally crazy."

Anna-Rose chuckled. "Glad you noticed. Anyway, this is an athletics competition, a test of the body. Are you gonna use your Stand?"

"Mine's too obvious to use." Daisy shrugged. "Damien probably can't use his outside of short bursts, either."

Anna-Rose smirked. "My Eulogy isn't even that necessary for throwing events, but for sprints and jumps its extra leg power won't hurt." The two began to walk back to the group. "Still, we have to watch out for Tiffany, especially now. I don't want her to work out my Stand's power until we've learnt hers. As long as I don't use Eulogy in the throws, she won't ever spot its hands. That's the only failsafe I have."

"Okay. Now keep quiet." Daisy smiled as the two joined up with the group again.

The sports day continued without a problem. Anna-Rose completely demolished the throwing events with her Spin throws (Other girls argued about it with the adjudicators, who continued to insist that it was her throwing training that allowed her to win, and not a cheat, so it was allowed) and the jumps were given to some of the more sporty students. Finally, it was time for the sprints. The men's sprints were about to begin. Damien stepped up to the line, and many of the students insisted he was the favourite. However, another athlete, this one named Ryder Bentley, walked over into the lane next to Damien's with an unusual amount of confidence and swagger. Daisy was confused. "Hey, is he a fast guy too?"

"Not that I'm aware of. He's a chemist. I don't know why he's so confident. Maybe he recently unlocked his Stand…?" Anna-Rose began to observe Ryder closely. Other than a strange shiny coating, he seemed normal. "He looks like he's covered in oil or something. I'm not sure if it's a Stand or a dirty trick."

"Could be both." Daisy shrugged.

The race began, and Damien sped into the lead. Ryder was moving sort of quickly, but he was still trailing behind the pack a bit. However, he suddenly leapt into the ground and began to slide incredibly quickly along the grass of the track. Damien looked behind him to see this strange kid catching up to him in a slide. Daisy looked over at Anna-Rose, who was just as stunned as she was. "What on Earth is that Stand? It removes the friction from his body! That's why he's speeding up in that slide!" Damien, seeing no other option, used his rocket Stand to gain a burst of speed, and sprinted over the finish line just before Ryder slid over.

Ryder stood up, scowling. "Tch. I thought I had that one." Damien shook his hand, chuckling, before leaning over to whisper in his ear.

"You shouldn't have made such a public display of that ability. I hope you think you know who your enemies are, and what they are capable of."

Ryder began to laugh. "Enemies? In this school? Ah, I like to think that nobody here hates me that much. It'll be fine."

Daisy sighed. Damien didn't seem like a person. His body language was right, but it never lined up with what he said, and he was incredibly impressionable. He seemed like some sort of new AI, or something, just trying to absorb knowledge. She dismissed the thought as soon as it was made, however. AI didn't exist.

"Daisy, it's our turn to race. Come on." Anna-Rose pulled Daisy up. The entomologist smirked.

"I think I came up with an idea. Fleas can jump 20 times their own height because of their powerful legs. What if I gave myself the leg strength of a flea?"

Anna-Rose sighed. "You do whatever you think will work. I'm just going to focus on trying to bait Tiffany into playing right into my hands, and showing us her Stand in this race."

"Okay." The two lined up at the starting line for the track. Other girls began to line up for the race, with Tiffany standing in the very left lane. Anna-Rose began to focus on the track carefully, noting any pot-holes in her lane so she could place her steps carefully.

The official raised his hand to make sure the timers were ready, before blowing his whistle to start the race. The runners began to sprint, Daisy jumping into the lead easily with her powered-up leg muscles and good technique. Anna-Rose and Tiffany were neck-and-neck behind her, each trying to psyche each other out. The goal was closing in, and the crowd began to roar. However, it wasn't a roar of excitement. Tiffany was the favourite to win the race, because she ran the school's social structure. Two outsiders even getting close to top position, let alone winning, was completely unheard of. Tiffany smirked as the crowd flared up. "So, nerd, are you gonna use your Stand to prove that you deserve this win?"

Anna-Rose chuckled. "I don't need to, because I don't. Neither of us deserve this win. She came up with a smart use of her ability, so she does."

Tiffany, fuming that Daisy had bested her again, shouted at the physicist. "What is her power, then? Tell me!"

"Nope." Anna-Rose chuckled as Daisy crossed the line, closely ahead of her and her rival. "If I did that, it'd be cheating. If you want to play games with us, I'll play along."

Tiffany grumbled, walking off after the race had finished. Anna-Rose, smiling, walked over to her victorious friend. What a day it had been.

Stand Name: "Surf Wax America"

Stand User: Ryder Bentley

Power: N/A

Range: D

Speed: A

Durability: N/A

Precision: D

Potential: C


	10. I Think I'm Paranoid

School was out. Daisy was sat on the couch flicking through television channels, when she heard a knock at the door. She stood to get it, only to see her parents standing in the corridor. She was shocked and glad. "Whoa, didn't expect this. What are you doing here?"

Her father smiled. "Well, we thought we'd come to visit. We're here for a few days." Daisy's mother smiled weakly. Daisy walked out and hugged her.

"Mum, are you alright?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm okay. I'm… I'm getting used to it." She looked down. Daisy, after all of the bizarre experiences she had been through lately, had to ask her mother something.

"Mum, do you mind if I ask you what kinds of things you experience?"

Her mother smiled, hugging Daisy tightly. "Not at all, darling. What I see… When I look at people, sometimes they twist into odd shapes. Like when I look at you, I see many insects, but predominantly… this green wasp. Wasps were always your favourite insect, weren't they?"

Daisy's jaw dropped. There was no way… could it really be possible that her mother had… no, wait. If that were the case, she shouldn't be able to see her Stand while it wasn't active. It must simply be a coincidence, or familial bond, or something. "Well… why don't you two come in? I'll get you something to eat."

"Thanks, dahl." Daisy's father chuckled, walking inside. "C'mon, Darlene."

"Watch your step." Darlene pointed to the carpet, which was coming up a bit. Daisy's father had almost tripped on it. Daisy was stunned; she hadn't even seen that before. Did her mother really have a Stand, that allowed her to see something even a normal Stand user couldn't? She put a kettle on to boil and called Anna-Rose, who answered after a few rings.

"Hello?" The physicist sounded exhausted. Daisy chuckled. It wasn't even that hot today.

"You busy? My parents just showed up at the door, and I have a sneaking suspicion my mother doesn't really have schizophrenia."

"You think she's a user?" Anna-Rose was interested now.

"I do. She described my Stand and its power as something she could 'see', and she was able to see a part of my carpet which was a tripping hazard from behind my father, and I'd never even noticed it before."

Anna-Rose nodded. "Gimme 20 minutes and I'll be there. I won't be able to tell for sure unless she notices one of our Stands while it's active, or she activates hers, of course. Still, keep on the lookout for anything weird. She's probably using her ability without realising it."

"Alright. You'd better get here soon." Daisy hung up, pouring three cups of coffee and handing her parents a cup each. Darlene beamed with happiness.

"You're so grown up, Daisy." She looked over to her husband. "Isn't she lovely, Mark?"

"Oh, uh, of course." He took a sip. "It's good. Where'd you get this?"

Daisy chuckled. "It's just instant coffee with a little bit of honey mixed in."

"You should sell it as a new blend! People would buy it." Mark laughed hysterically.

Darlene looked over at the kettle. "Uh, Daisy, you should turn the kettle off, it looks fit to burst."

Daisy followed her gaze. The kettle looked fine. "Don't worry, mum, it should be fine. Besides, I don't want it to go cold if anyone wants another cup of coffee."

"No, darling, I really think it's going to burst." The kettle started to whistle. Daisy turned around, but it didn't look too warped… She began to walk over, coating her body in beetle shell just in case. She reached out to turn the kettle off, but just as she reached for the switch the kettle burst from the pressure, several rivets flying into her arm. Daisy bit down on her lower lip, turning off the kettle.

"Ow!" She picked the rivets from her arm, pulling the packet of bandages from her cabinet and wrapping the wounds. "Mum, how could you tell that it was going to do that?"

Darlene stood and hugged her injured daughter. "I saw a warped kettle, ready to burst because of the steam." Daisy sighed, before summoning Bullet with Butterfly Wings to hover around them both. Her mother immediately shrieked, jumping back. Daisy began to smile weakly.

"So you see it?" Darlene was confused and afraid. "I can explain this to you later. My friend will be here in 10 minutes, and she can do a better job of explaining than I could." Mark looked over to see Darlene panicking.

"Darling, what's going on? You havin' an episode? Sit down and have some more coffee, I'm sure Daisy'll be okay." Daisy turned around and used a silk thread to stitch the holes in her arm shut.

"Yeah, sit down for a bit, mum. This must be a lot to take in."

Another knock at the door about ten minutes later. Mark answered it, and Anna-Rose and Delaware walked in. Delaware rushed to Daisy. "I heard something explode. You okay?"

Daisy sighed. "If you were so worried, you'd have gotten here earlier. That was ten minutes ago."

"Right…" The teenage metalworker chuckled a little, beginning to put the destroyed kettle back together with They Might Be Giants, albeit very discretely. Anna-Rose, on the other hand, walked over slowly. She was in very casual clothing, cooler than anything Daisy had ever seen her in, both literally and fashionably. She was carrying around a backpack with her two steel balls in slings hanging off the back.

"Um, Mrs. Stratter, your daughter called me over because she wanted me to speak with you about something?" She pushed up her glasses a bit. Darlene nodded.

"Delaware, once you've fixed that, help yourself to some chocolates. Get my dad some too. Mum and I have to talk in private for a bit." Daisy was beginning to get nervous. This kind of situation was about to get terrifying, and if her father saw any of it, it'd be worse.

Anna-Rose pulled the other two women outside, shutting the apartment door. She then threw her head back and sighed. "Alright, so Daisy says you have a - an ability. Do you understand what the things you see mean?"

"What does it mean? Well, I'm not sure…" Darlene started to think. "I suppose I've always been the type to caution others. I'm a safe person."

"Well, that's something to work with. You like to keep others safe, so your ability might have something to do with that. Daisy, quick question. Who persuaded you to leave home and attend school in America?"

Daisy smiled. "That's easy. It was mum. She's always very nice and wants me to be the best I can."

"Hmm… achieving full potential, and wanting to keep others safe…" After a moment, she thought of an idea. "Mrs. Stratter, does your bizarre vision show you things that you want to see? Does what you see allow you to do the things you love doing?"

"Oh… well, I suppose it does. When I look at people, I see strange things like the wasp that Daisy could apparently control… in everyone. And also, sometimes it allows me to see things that will happen to them. For example, the reason I told you to turn off the kettle was because I saw you being hit by rivets, Daisy."

Daisy clutched her bandaged arm. That could have been her head, or something much worse. "Mum… I think I understand what your believed illness and your ability truly mean. You can see potential. Those shapes… They are called Stands. It seems that anyone with the drive to succeed at something has the potential to develop one. So, you can see a Stand inside of everyone. And the things that might happen to people… they have the potential to happen. What a great ability to have, mum."

"You think I have one of these Stand things?" She chuckled. "How can you tell?"

"You saw my Bullet with Butterfly Wings, while it was active. There's no possible way that was coincidence. You saw my ability, so I know that you have one yourself." Daisy smiled, hugging her mother. "I'm so glad."

Darlene hugged her back. "And your friend here has one too, I presume. A sleek thing that looks like her, with… balls in its hands?" Anna-Rose nodded.

"Correct. Your desire to make sure people can remain safe to live out their full potential… that drive to succeed at raising your daughter, and the sadness from having her leave your arms, that created a Stand inside of you. Can you try to 'bring it out'?"

"Uh… If I try hard enough to show you, I suppose…" From Darlene's back sprang two strong-looking gloved arms, both incredibly flexible and large. "It worked… I do have something like you."

"I think I know of a good name, mum." Daisy smiled. "Let's call it "I Think I'm Paranoid", because of what you thought it was when you didn't understand it."

"That's a good name, dear." Darlene pecked her daughter on the cheek. "Oh well, let's go inside and tell your father!"

"No, no, no, don't do that!" Daisy stopped her mother from going in. "He'll still think you're crazy if you do that. He can't see our Stands at all, even if you can see one that he might get."

"Oh. So I just… pretend I can't see these things?"

"No, don't pretend you can't. You have control over your ability, now that you understand its limits. Try turning it off." Daisy smiled. "I believe in you."

Darlene nodded, and tried to "turn off" the strange things she could see. After a few moments, the visions of potential blurred and faded away. "Wow… this is incredible. Thank you for opening up my eyes, girls."

"Not a problem, Mrs. Stratter." Anna-Rose smiled.

"Of course I'd help my mum with this kind of thing," Daisy confirmed.

Stand Name: "I Think I'm Paranoid"

Stand User: Darlene Stratter

Power: B

Range: D (Stand), B (Ability)

Speed: B (Stand), A (Ability)

Durability: E

Precision: E

Potential: A


	11. Copy Of A

Darlene was sitting down on the bed in her hotel room, reading. After her daughter had assured her that what others assumed was a mental illness was actually some kind of superpower, she was still a little skeptical. But that day, Daisy had demonstrated her new powers, which terrified her for a moment, but she understood then that she wasn't being lied to. However, now knowing this, she was restless. She could see the powers that others could have, but without knowing for sure she couldn't tell who had unlocked this potential in them.

"Darlene, are you okay? You haven't said anything in hours." Mark, her husband, sat down in bed next to her. Darlene sighed.

"I dunno. This trip… it's given me a lot to think about." Mark smiled.

"Yeah. Our little girl's grown up so quickly, huh? I'm glad you encouraged her to do this."

"I'm glad too… I suppose." Darlene smiled weakly, turning to meet her husband's gaze.

Mark nodded, and tucked himself into bed, going to sleep. Darlene continued to sleep; her new knowledge causing sleep to evade her. She dialled room service to get a midnight snack as she continued to read. After a few minutes, a bell-hop carrying a platter of food entered the hotel room. Darlene stood to get her food, but she noticed something terrifying. This person… they had no potential. No goals, no aspirations, not even a chance of dying. She grew concerned, and asked a simple question.

"Sir, are you… are you alright?"

The bell-hop looked into her eyes. "Why do you ask?" His voice seemed reptilian, somehow off. Darlene was scared.

"Something about you seems off. As if you were… dead." She stepped back, nervous. The bell-hop scowled a little, taking off his cap and shirt to reveal he had a purely smooth body. No hair, no wrinkles, nothing.

"How on Earth did you realise what I was? My power… you could see right through it! What the hell kinda Stand do you have?"

Darlene was stunned. This person… definitely wasn't human! Could it be a Stand walking around without anything attached to it? "W-Wait, what are you? Surely you're not a person…"

"Heh." The Stand chuckled. "Nope. If I had a user, he's long dead. My name is Copy Of A, but you can just call me Copy. My power is to create copies of myself, as well as to mimic the shapes of other people. However, if any of my copies are damaged, it acts just like if a Stand of mine was injured; all the damage comes back to the main me. Now, tell me." Copy grabbed Darlene's arm, smiling. "How did you figure out I wasn't a person? Are you that problem I was hired to extinguish? That chick from the private school?"

"Private… school…" Darlene gulped, scurrying into the corridor of the hotel. The white hands of I Think I'm Paranoid slammed the door behind her as she started to sprint away. The carpet in the corridor had incredibly little traction, and Darlene started to slip a little as she ran.

Copy came through the door after her, chasing her. "I knew it! Ah, it'll be fun to take you over and infiltrate your school from the inside." Darlene's brain was whirring. Daisy's friend, who had helped her understand what she was dealing with, she'd talked about the school's student leader, who was trying to completely control every student in the institution. Could it be that this foe had mistaken her for her daughter. Was this student leader really trying to kill Daisy? Darlene bailed out of the window, using her Stand to catch the ground and break her fall. Copy leapt after her, hitting the ground much harder and injuring its arm.

"So… this thing must be bound to a dead body, right? I heard a bone snap." Darlene smirked. "Listen here. I may be a little old now, but I've always been an athletic woman. Some lame blob like you won't be able to catch me."

"Watch me." Copy grabbed Darlene's ankle, but she kicked his hand off immediately. Copy's flesh swirled, looking for something to latch onto, but nothing was there.

"Whew. That stuff looks dangerous." Darlene thought for a moment. She knew three Stand users in the area, but she didn't want to get her daughter involved, and the other girl was too far away. Then, there was the boy who lived on the level below her daughter. Delaware, she remembered. Without any further hesitation, she sprinted off toward the apartment complex, praying that the Stand following her would be pre-occupied with its injuries too long.

Stand Name: "Copy Of A"

Stand Master: ?

Power: C

Range: N/A

Speed: C

Durability: D

Precision: C

Potential: E

Delaware was preparing himself for bed when he heard a loud, persistent knock on the door. He walked over and opened the door, seeing Daisy's mother rush into his apartment. He locked the door again after her, confused. "The hell? What are you doing here at this time of night?"

Darlene was panting heavily. "Stand… chasing me… no user… can imitate people." She passed out on the ground. Delaware sighed.

"Damn, really? I thought I'd be able to sleep well tonight." He sighed, stretching a bit. "Alright, so how do I figure out a Stand that could look like anyone?" For a moment, he pondered, before coming to a realisation. "Hold on. Stands don't have blood. By manipulating the iron in blood, I should be able to tell if it's a person or a Stand, right?" Delaware's Stand formed on his back, a metal coating covering his shoulders. "Here's hoping."

Meanwhile, Copy was clambering up the stairs to pursue Darlene, clutching its broken arm. "Ugh. What a pain. She was faster than I'd expected. I'll just have to use copies to overwhelm her, it seems." It split into three, and walked up to Delaware's door, before thinking for a moment. "Hmm, if I go upstairs, I can attack from two sides!" One of the copies went upstairs while the other two tried to unlock the door, turning into important-looking officials. "Open up! We have a warrant!"

Darlene sat up. "Uh, I think it's outside." Delaware nodded.

"I know, I know. I'll be fine, though. He can't get in, because when I lock the door, I warp the lock so it can't be unlocked, unless I'm unlocking it." He walked up to the door. "Hold up, there's two of 'em here. Are you sure it's that Stand?"

Darlene walked over, sliding open the mail flap to take a look. There was one piece of potential there; the potential to… no way… "They're copies! There must be another one, and it's running upstairs to attack Daisy! We're stuck in here, and the thing I wanted to avoid is happening!"

Delaware grit his teeth. "The Stand's gotta be bound to something! What is that thing?"

"A body! It's like a parasite, it takes people over with its touch!" Darlene was beginning to freak out, but Delaware smirked, unlocking the door.

"Great. You know that bones have metal in them, right?" He walked out into the corridor and used They Might Be Giants to fuse Copy Of A's bones into one messy clump. "You're a Stand, so if you die, you'll never be found…" He raised a hand coated in metal, only for an ear-piercing scream to distract him. "Oh, shit. Daisy!" Darlene sprinted upstairs, closely followed by Delaware. The other copy standing in the corridor chased after the pair, while Copy struggled to move.

"Damn kid. Now I need a new body… I guess one of them will do nicely."

Delaware and Darlene burst into Daisy's apartment. They found the bubbling flesh of Copy swirling around a huge silken cocoon, most definitely containing Daisy. Delaware sighed. "Are you okay in there? I need some metal to catch-" The other copy cocked a pistol to Delaware's head. "Oh, thanks." He stretched out the metal of the gun to stop the copy's movement, then used the bullets in the magazine to stop the other one trying to invade Daisy's cocoon. He smirked. "Alright, that works. You can come out, Daisy." The cocoon burst open, Daisy breathing heavily.

"Took your time." She chuckled. "I was pretty terrified."

Delaware sighed. "You're upbeat, even after all that?"

"Well, I don't really think it's appropriate to break down in tears when nothing really happened to me." She smirked. "Anyway, mum, if you want, you can sleep here. Wouldn't want you going through Brooklyn in the middle of the night alone."

"Okay, dear." Darlene hugged her daughter tightly.


	12. Say It Ain't So

Chapter 15: Say It Ain't So

Anna-Rose had been shaken up after hearing about the battle with Copy, the assassin Stand with no user. "You two are lucky to be alive, I swear. The fact that Stand could be held in by physical objects is almost a miracle."

"Hey, it couldn't be recalled, right?" Delaware chuckled. "I thought it through."

Anna-Rose nodded, looking out at the heavy rain outside. A summer storm. Humid, windy, and horrible. Daisy snickered a little. "This makes me feel at home, y'know? The only kind of rains I'd ever seen as a kid were hot ones. Put up with it."

"You sure you didn't take Australian weather with you on that plane?" Anna-Rose peered over her large book. Daisy shrugged.

"Hey, it might be global warming kicking in, finally." She flicked on the television. "Anyone wanna watch something in particular?"

Delaware walked over, looking at the television guide. "Nothing here tickles my fancy."

"Okay…" Daisy sighed, turning on a dumb comedy. "Something for background noise, I guess." Thunder struck outside, and Anna-Rose jumped out of her seat, prompting Daisy to begin giggling uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" Anna-Rose was still startled.

"Oh my god, that was amazing! I can't believe that scared you!" Daisy completely lost it, falling on the floor in laughter. Anna-Rose sighed.

"You're the worst, Daisy." She kicked her friend lightly.

Daisy wiped her face, standing up. "Okay, okay." She stared out the window. "God, it's horrible out today. Really windy."

"Put up with it." Anna-Rose chuckled. She looked over, and at that moment she saw a shadow cast upon the wall. It wasn't being made by anything, and it shifted of its own accord. From that shadow, an arm toting a switchblade rose out of the wall, and readied itself to attack Daisy. "Look behind you, Daisy!"

She turned, and saw nothing. "Ha ha, funny. What was that for?" Anna-Rose bit her upper lip. The shadow's arm had faded back into the wall.

"Daisy, I think someone's in here with us. A Stand user." She looked around. "He can turn into shadows, or something. He was going to attack you."

"You're seeing things. Clean your glasses or something. How could a Stand user get in here without any of us noticing?" Daisy sighed, but Anna-Rose quickly interjected.

"He could have been here since we walked in! He can probably hide quite easily if you don't look closely enough-" Suddenly, a thrown knife hit Anna-Rose in the stomach. Daisy looked to where the knife was thrown from, to see a grown man, half-embedded in the wall and covered by a dark cloak.

"You… Delaware, fix her up." She summoned Bullet With Butterfly Wings and fired her stinger at the man, who phased back inside the wall. "What the hell? What kind of Stand is that?"

Anna-Rose breathed heavily as Delaware patched up her wound using They Might Be Giants to quickly clot her blood. "He's a shadow on the wall… you can catch him by making sure he doesn't leave your sight."

Just then, another lightning strike hit, and the power went out.

"Shit." Anna-Rose grumbled. "Okay, now we have a problem."

Daisy sighed. "That strike of lightning gives us a reason to be afraid, I guess… or not, you know." Daisy's body began to glow. "Plenty of insects have bioluminescence, including fireflies. This will let us see if he's attacking but not where he is."

"How helpful," Anna-Rose hissed.

"You got a better idea?" Daisy shot a glare at her friend.

"I suppose I don't." The physicist looked away a little.

Delaware chimed in. "So, wait. Lemme get this straight. We're fighting a dude with an ability where he can become darkness… while in the dark." He sighed. "We're dead."

"Don't use that kinda attitude!" Daisy chuckled, trying to raise spirits despite the dire situation. "We'll be fine, just hold onto some hope." She gulped. The shine coming off of her body grew brighter, as she looked around for shadows that didn't match any existing objects.

Anna-Rose stood slowly, summoning Eulogy to her side. "You're afraid, aren't you? Your whole body is shaking." She grabbed onto Daisy's shoulders, both to keep her upright and steady her friend's nerves. "Calm down. He'll beat you if you freak out." After a moment, she pulled her hands away. "…your skin is thinner. You're creating this light for us at your own risk." She rubbed her eyes a little. "I don't understand why you do this kind of thing."

Daisy smiled weakly. "If I can do something to help somebody, there's no sense in not doing it."

"You follow that philosophy to a fault. I'm incredibly glad we met the way we did, Daisy." She sighed. "Well, let's leave the sentiments behind for a moment and think about the matter at hand. How on Earth are we supposed to fight this guy when he attacks so stealthily?"

"You have the best reactions, so I guess you'll have to keep a lookout." Daisy continued to check all around the three of them. "Delaware, can you get the door open from over here?"

Delaware nodded. "You got it." He slowly unlocked and opened Daisy's apartment door. Anna-Rose was the first to sprint out into the dark corridor, Daisy swiftly following. Delaware left last, locking the door behind him. "Okay, what now?"

"This space is more narrow. Less places to attack in secret." Daisy was still shivering. "Ugh. There's not enough light." She kicked off her stockings and undid the top button on her dress to let a bit more light out.

"Uh, we could use some more." Delaware looked around in worry. Daisy slapped the back of his head. "Right, sorry."

Daisy was suitably annoyed. "God, think before you speak. This is as much light as I'm willing to give."

"You'd rather die?" Anna-Rose asked, looking into Daisy's eyes. The entomologist looked down a little, her thin cheeks going a little pink.

"Well, my core gives off less light, because of organs and such. It's not worth the shame, really. Plus, nobody wants to see my intestines."

"Some people might-" Delaware immediately bit his tongue.

Daisy shook her head. "At least we're staying jovial."

Anna-Rose looked around slowly. "Where do you think he'll come from?"

Delaware thought for a moment. "Well, Daisy's not the tallest, so he'd get the best angle up on the ceiling, right?"

The two girls looked at each other, then they looked up. A pistol was pointing out of the ceiling directly at them. They scattered as the first shot was fired, Daisy falling because of the lack of muscle she had to allow in her legs to give the amount of light she was. Anna-Rose tossed a steel ball up at the pistol, and hit it dead-on. It was because of the glint of light coming off of it that gave it away. The hand, now clutching a broken pistol, pulled back into the wall. The lights flickered back on.

"What? How?" Anna-Rose was startled.

Delaware smirked. "Well, these lights aren't incandescent, but the fuses are all made of metal. I just switched some switches from up here."

"You know where the fuse box is?"

"Of course. All tenants get a floor plan of the complex, and I studied mine." He helped Daisy up, who was essentially acting as a lit target.

Daisy sighed, before beginning to glow a bit green. "Oh god, someone get a bucket or something…" Delaware yanked over a trash can from across the corridor, which Daisy promptly vomited neon colour into. "I don't think that's normal…"

Anna-Rose sighed. "Daisy, the lights are on, just turn back already." Daisy stood wearily, and turned herself back to normal.

"I'm never doing that again. I felt really sick."

Delaware bit his lip a little. "I think you lost weight. Your arms and legs look really weak."

Daisy sighed, moving her limbs around a little bit. "I guess I must have. At least it kept us alive, at the end of the day… That, and Anna's speed." She smiled at her friend, who was still very distressed at her condition.

"Daisy, you need a hospital. You're really underweight. You seriously can't be here in that condition." Anna-Rose used Eulogy to hold Daisy up. "I'll take you outside."

"Don't do that. You need to stay here and fight this battle. Your reflexes are the only thing that can win this fight, Anna." Daisy looked almost pitiful in her weakened state. "Right? You can win, can't you?"

Anna-Rose began to shake. "Don't put so much damn pressure on me." She looked into Daisy's bony face and began to tear up. To save her friends, this girl had driven herself way beyond breaking point. She almost removed all of her body mass just to give the maximum amount of light. Her skin barely even had colour. "You need to survive, okay? Delaware, call an ambulance or something."

"Okay." Delaware nodded, calling up an ambulance. Anna-Rose wiped the tears from her eyes, before noticing something. There was a faint outline around Daisy's eyes… a shimmering rectangle, in a perfect golden ratio…

"Holy crap." She looked around the room, and began to see more golden rectangles, in things she had never even realised were golden ratio. "I've done it. Eureka." She looked around, noticing a rectangle in the shadows of the wall. It had to be a face of some sort. She walked up to the shadow and closely watched it move. From the way it moved on the wall… "Nice try. Alright, give it up. I've got your Stand cornered."

In desperation, the shadow pushed a knife outside of the wall, trying to stab Anna-Rose in the gut. However, she was prepared this time, and grabbed his wrist tightly, using Eulogy to extract the rest of his body from the wall as well. The grown man in the shadowy cowl was now laying on the floor, at Anna-Rose's complete mercy. The look on her face was now a mixture of anxiety and rage. She picked him up by the collar and glared at him.

"I hope you spend longer in the hospital than she does."

She tossed the man up, and called Eulogy to throw an absolute barrage of Spin punches at him. Daisy and Delaware were incredibly taken aback by the speed that Anna-Rose's Stand was demonstrating, and every hit was charged with a devastating Super Spin. After about 50 punches, the man was sent flying to the wall, his cowl dissipating. Anna-Rose walked over to him and crouched nearby.

"Did Tiffany send you to attack us?" The man shook his head slowly.

"I dunno her name. She just gave me pictures of you and called herself "Prime Minister". She talked about her boss wanting that one gone." He pointed at Daisy, who was now sleeping. Anna-Rose grumbled.

"Prime Minister? That bitch has a system of government now?" She sighed. "How much were you paid?"

"Why do you have to know? I haven't been paid yet, anyway." He tried to crawl away.

Anna-Rose sighed. "Well, don't bother us again, and you won't be held back from another paycheque by us."

Delaware chuckled as the ambulance pulled up. "This is the girl who fought me back then, I can tell." He took Daisy downstairs as Anna-Rose collapsed from the adrenaline overdose.

Stand Name: "Say It Ain't So"

Stand User: Unnamed Assassin

Power: N/A

Range: N/A

Speed: A

Durability: E

Precision: N/A

Potential: E


	13. Unravel, The Hospital's Blight

Darlene knocked on the door of the hospital room. A nurse opened it, looking her up and down. "Hello. Are you Daisy's mother?"

"That's me. Can I see her?" She tried to peer into the room.

"Sure, madam. Come this way." The nurse led Darlene into the room, over to the large bed with lots of equipment surrounding it. Darlene hurried over, and saw her beloved daughter, her spindly arms and legs secured. One arm was hooked up to an intravenous drip, and the other was firmly stuck into a packet of crisps.

Daisy looked up, her sunken cheeks writing in an attempted smile. "Hello, mum. How did it go?"

Darlene sat down, tearing up a little. She understood what had put Daisy in this condition, but she was still horrified seeing just how bad it was. "Anna-Rose won your lawsuit. That man who broke in has to pay your medical bills for you, and there's a criminal case following up in a month."

"Great. I'm glad we won't have to pay for this." Daisy tilted her head up a little, eating a mouthful of crisps quickly. "When are you heading home? A couple of days?"

"That's the plan." Darlene sat down, looking around the room. The nurse left to give the two some privacy. "Can you walk yet, darling?"

"With crutches, yes. My strength is coming back now, at least. I should be up and relatively recovered before school goes back in September." She chuckled. "Well, my face will still be a bit thin, but that's going to take some more eating to fix."

"Don't eat too much. Look at you. Your belly's growing way too much." Darlene prodded Daisy's stomach. It was true, most of the body mass that she had to put back on was going to her gut.

"Tell you what, I'll start going to the gym once I've got myself sorted out." Daisy sighed. She wasn't in pain, she just felt light-headed constantly. The last two weeks in hospital had been quite the problem for her health.

Darlene looked over, to the second bed in the room. "Who's that?" Sat within the bed was a person bandaged head to toe, only their eyes visible. They were moving around, but it looked like it was painful and encumbered.

"Apparently, they're a burn victim. Some messed-up person set their whole body alight, and they suffered grievous burns to 80% of the body." Daisy laid her head back on her pillow. "I get a weird feeling from them, as if…"

"As if they're a Stand user?" Darlene butted in. Daisy sighed.

"Speak quietly about that stuff." She lowered her voice. "They stare at me a lot."

The person in the bandages sat up and stared at the pair. Darlene looked back, and saw some "potential" in them. That potential showed her an image of Daisy being strangled by bandages. She immediately stood up and faced this person properly, catching a sudden lash of wrappings. "Nice try." She smirked.

The bandaged person stood up, and revealed her nose and mouth from under the bandages. Other than a few scars on her left cheek, the woman's face was rather spotless. "Why would you have her saved? She will be here forever. I am simply putting her misery short." Darlene scowled.

"You think death makes anyone happy?" She sighed. "I've lived longer than you have. Trust me, death does not make anybody happy at all."

"I lust for the day I die. Ever since I was burned, I have." The woman stood, getting out of bed. "She is a ruined person. A shell of what she was. I am doing people like that a favour."

Darlene grumbled, walking over to her. "I will not let you touch my daughter."

The burned woman chuckled. "I won't have to." Her bandages shot out, flying past Darlene, who used her Stand to grab one of the strands and tear it off. The bandage, which had been so firm just before, became flaccid.

"Ah, I get it. Your Stand can't possess bandages that aren't attached to you, right?" Darlene smirked. "That makes this a lot easier." She turned around to check on Daisy, to see that she was being choked by another length of gauze. Quickly, she broke the bandage with I Think I'm Paranoid and sprinted over to undo the choking hold. She listened to Daisy's chest for a moment afterwards. "Thank God. She's breathing." She turned back to the burned woman. "You heartless bitch."

"Oh, look at mommy with the hard-hitting words. It doesn't stop the fact that I'm helping your daughter be freed from the hell she has to live in now." She chuckled, undoing a few more layers of bandages to show the horrible burns on her body. "Her condition is worse than mine has ever been. For the last two weeks, there's rarely been a time where she wasn't sobbing, or attempting to wobble out of her bed. Look at her. Can someone in that condition really recover?"

"You don't know her. She will do whatever it takes to get where she wants to go, just like I would do anything for her." Darlene's face grew more and more serious as she stared down this woman.

The bandaged woman simply chuckled. "My name is Tania Del Caliente. Go and look me up when you get the time." She began to cry. "My father did this to me. My mother always told me she would protect me, and I know how upset she was when she heard what had happened, but the truth is that she lied. You say that you will help your daughter reach her goals. Think about this, though. You aren't from this country, so would she have been hurt like this if she was at home? You sent her here, didn't you? So then, isn't her condition your fault?"

"You've been in here too long." Darlene was starting to tear up. "You've lost any decency you had before you were sent here."

"Of course I have! I've been betrayed by everyone!" Tania chuckled. "Do you want your daughter to end up like me? I'm doing her a favour, I've told you this before!" She shot off a few more threads of bandage, binding up Daisy's frail body. "So, I'll give you a choice. You either let me free her soul, or you will have to save her body from me."

"You…" Darlene looked back at her daughter. Daisy was weakly laughing. For a moment, Darlene thought she had lost it, but then began to laugh herself. "I choose neither, I choose neither." She wiped her eyes from tears of laughter. Tania was concerned.

"What the hell? Why are you two laughing?"

Daisy chimed in. "You thought I didn't have a Stand, did you?" She sliced open her bonds with mantis scythes. "You'd think a crippled little girl would be more afraid if she didn't." Bullet With Butterfly Wings manifested, and drove Tania's bandages against the wall with its stinger. Tania's concern grew to fear.

"Wait, hold on! I was just trying to do you a favour, please! Don't… don't hurt me." She began to cry. "Not again."

Darlene grumbled, walking up to her. "See? Death makes nobody happy. You might think you want to die, but when confronted with it, you suddenly change your mind. Like I said, I've been alive a lot longer than you, so I know these things."

Tania looked directly into Darlene's eyes. "So… you won't kill me?"

"There's potential in you, Tania. Potential to do good, to spread awareness. Not everybody is inherently bad. You just need to open your eyes."

Tania nodded, pulling the bandages off of her head. Her hair was a little patchy, but the short rough hairdo she had managed to regrow was almost a style. "Maybe I should try and leave this hospital."

Daisy smiled a little. "It'd do you some good, probably."

Tania hugged Darlene, sobbing. "Thank you so much. My poor mother… my condition drove her to do something horrible… I assumed that being in hospital made that happen to all of your loved ones. Thank you for showing me that I was wrong."

"Oh…" Darlene hugged back, a little teary-eyed. "If you have nobody left, I'm heading back to Australia in a few days. You can come and stay there with me until you get back on your feet."

"No. I'll make it. Don't worry." She smiled weakly.

After a few weeks, Daisy was discharged from the hospital. She grabbed the small amount of flab that had gathered around her stomach and sighed. "Man, this sucks. I guess I really am going to need to start working out."

Anna-Rose, who had come to discharge her, chuckled. "Well, I have a plan to go biking in a few days. You can come with."

Daisy thought for a moment, before nodding. "Sure. Although, maybe I won't go too hardcore on it. I suppose I could have used a little extra weight on me."

Anna-Rose looked her up and down. "If you don't mind me saying, you are just fine as it is." She blushed a little. Daisy was confused.

"Jeez, you don't have to be so embarrassed when you compliment me. We're both girls." Daisy chuckled, as the two walked over to the footpath, before being ambushed by a slightly familiar face. Anna-Rose jumped into a fighting stance as the rather tall Spanish-looking woman tapped Daisy on the shoulder.

Tania, now wearing frilly casual clothes over the masses of gauze bandages that was her Stand, smiled awkwardly. "Uh, excuse me? I... kind of need a roommate."

Daisy sighed. "If you really have nowhere else to go, sure. You can stay with me."

Anna-Rose looked at Daisy with a confused squint. "Daisy, you know this woman?"

"It's a really long story." Tania walked over next to Daisy, chuckling awkwardly. The other two joined in on the stinted laughter, and they giggled away as they walked back to Daisy's apartment.

Stand Name: "Unravel"

Stand User: Tania Del Caliente

Power: D

Range: B

Speed: C

Durability: E

Precision: B

Potential: A


	14. Let's Go Ride Some Bicycles

Daisy was leaning heavily on her bicycle, sighing. Her legs still weren't the strongest, and she had just walked several kilometres to a lake in Central Park. "Anna-Rose, why are we riding out here of all places? It's really busy."

Anna-Rose sighed, unsheathing one of her steel balls. "Well, Daisy, I didn't tell you, but during that last fight I unlocked the ability to see the Golden Rectangle. I was doing some more Spin research after that, and in the old times of horses, Spin users could ride their horse in a Golden Ratio to unlock an extra level of rotation. It approaches so close to infinity that in those times, it was called Infinite Spin. There aren't any records of its use from what I saw, but when I looked at my bike, I realised that it's shaped perfectly. It's a Golden Ratio."

"Hold up. This power isn't your Stand?" Tania, who had tagged along for some company, was confused. "Start at the beginning. The hell is "Spin", and how does it relate to riding bikes?"

"Well, Spin is just throwing stuff really hard, to put it simply." Anna-Rose hopped onto her bicycle. "I've run some calculations, and if I ride my bike really fast, then slam on the brakes and skid, I should have three types of Golden rotation; one for each axis in a three-dimensional existence. In theory, that will allow me to use this Infinite Spin, if only weakly. I just want to try this out."

Daisy and Tania also got onto their bikes. Daisy chuckled. "How long since you've ridden a bicycle?"

"Uh… that isn't important!" Anna-Rose shrugged it off. Tania smirked.

"Have you ever ridden a bike before?" The taller woman wrapped her Unravel's bandages around the handlebars for extra grip.

Anna-Rose raised her eyebrows. "Of course I have."

Daisy smiled. "Okay then. If you're such an expert, let's see how you keep up!" She sped off along the track on her bike, leaving the other two in the dust.

Tania chuckled. "Be careful with those oversized marbles. You could get arrested." She also rode off. Anna-Rose grimaced, before using the extra leg power of Eulogy to help her catch up. The distressing thing was that Tania wasn't wrong. She had to place her Infinite Spin attempts carefully, or else she could really hurt someone.

"Well then, we'll just have to take extra care, won't we?" Anna-Rose chuckled, pedalling even faster. "I can control the direction of my throw pretty well, so this shouldn't take too long." She hit her bike's brakes, beginning to slide sideways and angling her throw. However, as she wound up to throw the bicycle was knocked out of balance and she fell onto the path. "Damn it!" She stood up, clutching her skinned elbow. "Okay, that was a miscalculation, that's all."

Daisy started to giggle. "Sure it was."

"Shut up." Anna-Rose got back on her bike and rode away, trying another skid a minute later, and throwing her steel ball into a lake as a result of poor balance. "Damn, this is harder than I thought."

Tania thought for a moment. "Did you ever think of, maybe, throwing it with your Stand?"

Anna-Rose also thought it over, running calculations in her head. "Actually, that would be way easier. It means I don't have to skid to get the Infinite Spin." Daisy slammed her forehead into the handlebars.

"Sheesh, for a smart person, you don't consider all the options." Daisy sighed, but since she wasn't focused on the path she came off of it, rolling towards the lake. Quickly, Tania used her bandages to catch Daisy's bike and pull her back to safety. "Oh. Thanks, Tania."

"Don't mention it, friend." Tania beamed.

New York School For Specialist Children, Rule 3:

No cheating on assessments, assignments or examinations. Anybody caught cheating will get 0 for that particular examination. This includes use of non-human or superhuman abilities.

Lots of practicing went by over the day, with both Daisy getting her leg strength up and Anna-Rose trying to get an Infinite Spin with her Stand's throw. After several hours, Anna-Rose came to a realisation.

"I'm messing up my bike's Golden Ratio. I need to streamline myself." She chuckled, looking at a kite floating in the sky, that held Golden Ratio. She streamlined her body and started to pedal, Eulogy winding up her shot.

Daisy looked over. There were pedestrians on the path. "Anna-Rose, look out! There are people over there!"

"I got this." Eulogy threw the ball with incredible speed. It soared into the air above the pedestrians, spinning with a golden energy. "Infinite Spin: Golden Energy Rotation. That's what it's called." As the ball fell, the golden light began to shift shape. After a few seconds, the ball looked strange. It had grown arms and legs, and perhaps even a hat of some sort. It was quite odd to look at, and the speed at which it was rotating made it hard to get a good look. It slammed into the ground and began to drill into it, not kicking up dirt or grass at all. Whatever it took away was being spun into nothingness.

Daisy was stunned. "Is that steel ball… is it a Stand? It looks like a Stand, and that power is just too good to be natural. Is this the power of the rotation?"

Tania stared at the spinning ball. "Glad that didn't hit me."

Anna-Rose slammed the ball with her Stand's fist, spinning in the opposite direction. However, the ball didn't even waver. "Jeez. How on Earth do I stop this? I guess… come back?" She outstretched a palm, and the steel ball leapt out of the ground, landing square in Anna-Rose's hand, stopping its spin. "Whoa. I guess it is a Stand now. It achieved its maximum potential."

"That's cool. I assumed only people could get Stands." Daisy smiled, hugging Anna-Rose. "Good job."

"Thanks." Anna-Rose blushed. "Still, what kind of powers does this new Stand have? It needs more experimentation."

Tania and Daisy looked at each other and chuckled. "Listen, we're gonna head home. You keep practicing if you want. Remember, we've got school tomorrow." Daisy began to ride home, Tania in pursuit.

"Okay…" Anna-Rose kept riding around the park.

On the way back to the apartment, Tania spoke up to break the silence of the ride. "Daisy, thank you. Because of you, I feel alive again. I really can't be more grateful."

"I just wanted to help." Daisy smiled, and Tania grinned back, as they rode into Brooklyn.

Stand Name: "Ball Breaker"

Stand User: The Steel Balls

Power: A

Range: E

Speed: A

Durability: A

Precision: A

Potential: E


	15. Matador

Anna-Rose continued practicing late into the night, riding her bicycle through Central Park over and over to try and replicate the strange Stand-like phenomena her steel balls had exhibited that afternoon. Throw after throw landed harmlessly in the dirt, and after a few hours she was completely exhausted. Ready to leave for home, she put her balls back in her backpack and got back on her bike, prepared to leave. However, as she went to leave, she saw a young woman sitting out in the middle of the park, staring at her. The woman's clothes were completely white, and her pale skin eerily reflected the moonlight.

Anna-Rose slowly walked over. "Hey… who are you?"

The woman looked up. Her pale blue eyes seemed a little glassy. "I know you. You're the person I was told to wait for."

"Wait, what?" Anna-Rose stepped back. "Who told you to do that?"

"The leader did, of course. She always tells me to do things that will make me better. And today, she told me to wait for you. She says you're dangerous, but facing dangerous things makes me so much stronger."

"She… is 'she' called Tiffany? Is she manipulating you into fighting me?" Anna-Rose chuckled. "If we're not talking about the same person, though, I really have no reason to question you anymore."

"You know the leader?" The woman stood up, dazed. "Oh… so you are dangerous. That is a shock." She pulled a knife from her dress, smiling. "She told me what to do when someone dangerous approaches me." She stabbed the knife into her lower jaw, smiling as the light completely faded from her eyes. "My power… will protect her beliefs."

Anna-Rose quickly pulled the knife away from her. "Why would you do that? You're crazy! Hold on, lemme call a hospital or something…" Suddenly, the woman's arm twitched up and grabbed her around the neck. Anna-Rose gulped, looking down at the pale and flaccid body. For some reason, the top of the woman's head was beginning to grow pointed nubs, and she was gaining muscle quickly. "Could this… is this a Stand that activated when she died? What kind of situation would breed this type of Stand?"

The woman looked back at Anna-Rose, chuckling. "I'm not dead just yet. My Stand, Matador, keeps me animated. Now, not even I know how to stop it. When I'm put in a situation that is dangerous, my Stand will destroy that danger. The more dire the situation, the more power I get. A wound like that will keep it going for weeks."

Anna-Rose used her Stand to pry Matador's grip open, stumbling back onto her bike. "I can't believe that she would manipulate someone to go so far. I can't believe that she can." She took off, heading for the Brooklyn Bridge. "I need to tell them what she can do!" After a minute or so, she spotted a familiar figure approaching from behind. Matador was chasing her at high speed, tossing some kind of pale energy at her.

"You won't escape me! The leader wants you dead!" Anna-Rose quickly began to fumble around in her bag, trying to grab a steel ball to lob at this monster. After seeing what the Infinite Spin did to the ground, she was ready to try it on something else, and a Stand this dangerous was a prime target.

"Good luck with that." Eulogy raised its arm to throw, but Anna-Rose couldn't find a Golden Rectangle anywhere. "Oh, god. It's too dark on this bridge." She remembered the fight with Alfonse and shuddered. There was nothing here. She sighed and kept pedalling as fast as she could, which wasn't incredibly fast to begin with.

Matador smirked, horns of white energy bursting from its head. "This power is incredible! There's no way you can win!" It lobbed a ball of energy at Anna-Rose, knocking her into the air. As she spun through the air, the physicist thought about something.

"The bike, with two more types of rotation…" Eulogy wound up its throw again. "You lose, Matador." As Anna-Rose sailed off the bridge's side, she lobbed a steel ball with one of her Stand's hands, and caught the bridge with the other. Anna-Rose pulled herself up onto the bridge, starting to feel a bit dizzy. "Whew. That was close."

The ball slammed into Matador's forearm, cracking the bone immediately. "What the hell…" She tried forcing it away, but it started to eat into her flesh as the Stand-like energy of the ball made itself known. "This thing… it can't be a Stand!" Several tendrils of Matador's energy tried forcing it away, but it was spinning too fast. "You…" Matador ran up to Anna-Rose and punched her as hard as possible. "You're doing this!" It wound up again, but Anna-Rose simply chuckled.

"I won, Matador. Tell me who your master is, please. That way, when you disappear I know whose grave to mark."

"You've not won yet! I'll destroy you before your trick defeats me, I promise!" The Stand sent blow after blow, but Eulogy blocked every one. The balls in its knuckles began to spin.

Anna-Rose sighed. "You're pitiful. You were disillusioned into thinking you were invulnerable. Well…" She pushed up her glasses to catch the glinting light of the moon and get a better look. "I'll show you just how vulnerable you are." Eulogy sent punch after shattering punch into Matador's torso, making huge dents and bruises all over the poor user's body. After about 5 seconds Eulogy had already thrown 200 or so punches, each charged with dangerous rotation. All the while, the ball's Stand was grinding away at Matador's arms, stopping it from retaliating. After almost a half minute of punches, Eulogy knocked Matador away, who was crippled and injured as a result of the barrage.

"You can't have done this…" Matador's energy began to seep out of the woman's body, whose white dress was soaked with red, and stained with black. "I'll kill you. I promise." The energy attempted to attack, but it continued to float up. "Wait, what's happening? Why can't I attack? What is happening to me?" The swirling mass of energy was bellowing as it floated and dispersed away from its target.

Anna-Rose sighed. "You've lost, monster. You took a girl's life, and now you are getting what you deserve."

Matador finally disappeared, its screams of despair fading into nothingness. Silence. Anna-Rose walked over to the body of that strange follower of Tiffany's, a grim expression on her face. She picked up the corpse and tossed it into the ocean calmly, before getting on her slightly ruined bike. It was still ridable. She started to ride home, but after a short time began to sob uncontrollably. Despite the fact that she knew that girl was dead before the fight began, knowing that her life was taking the lives of others scared, saddened and disgusted her. However, now she was sure that Tiffany had to be stopped. More sure than ever.

Stand Name: "Matador"

Stand User: Jaqueline Adams

Power: A

Range: N/A

Speed: A

Durability: B

Precision: A

Potential: N/A

It was about 1am when Tania was woken up by the vase falling over. Daisy was sound asleep still, so Tania began to worry. If someone was robbing the person who had given her a new lease on life, she wanted to stop them. She walked out into the living room wrapped head to toe in her Stand bandages. A feminine figure was standing there, but it was too dark to see who. Tania turned to hit the light switch, but while her back was turned she felt the figure lift up her bandages, and then a sudden rise in blood pressure. "What the hell? I feel… weird…" Her blood pressure went down as she felt something inside her break. She turned, to see the person walk through the window. "Wait… is that another…" Tania collapsed. She felt something wrong, but couldn't think. There was no blood going to her brain. Beginning to tear up, the last thought that went through her mind was how she had been wrong for such a long time. She didn't want to die. She really did not.


	16. In Bloom

Anna-Rose, with her arms bandaged up as a result of overworking herself, walked past the apartment complex that housed Daisy and Delaware, and spotted two familiar figures sitting on the steps. Daisy was sobbing wildly, while Delaware attempted to comfort her. "There, there. It's not your fault." He looked over at Anna-Rose with a concerned look on his face, and mouthed "help me".

She walked over and hugged Daisy. "What happened?" Daisy looked up, wiping her face.

"Tania was killed in the night. It had to be a Stand user, who killed her thinking it was me. It's because of me that she's dead now." She continued to sob, while Anna-Rose sighed. The state Daisy was in reminded her of the fight with Matador, and having to put down that poor dying girl.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want to come to school today?" Anna-Rose sighed, and began to walk off, before Daisy stood up and growled.

"No, I'll come. I need to teach that bitch a lesson." She smirked. "Tania's chest was completely bruised all over. There was a lot of internal bleeding. I bet you anything she used her Stand to do that, and given the condition of the body, it isn't a kill switch Stand either. Scary, but not impossible to beat."

"So, Tiffany played her cards out of anger?" Anna-Rose was confused. "Alright, let's get to school. We have a lead on her Stand power, at least. Stay well away from her."

"Well, tonight she'll finish me off, if she sees me." Daisy sighed.

Anna-Rose smirked. "Then we'll finish her today."

The bell rang, and Daisy walked into her English class at the start of this new school year. However, nobody was there. She looked around, confused. The passageways were completely empty. Surely the class should be full, right? "Hello? Is anyone hiding around here?" Daisy gulped, carefully creating small compound eyes on the back of her head to sense any motion from behind. "Listen. If this is a trick, or an attack, I'm not going to sit down and take it. Just come out."

At that moment, books began to fly from the shelves, sticking themselves to Daisy. She ripped them off quickly, but noticed that something was off. The faded covers of the school books seemed to have strange patches of blanched white spotted upon them. Daisy looked at where the books had touched her, and noticed the same stark white. Daisy heard giggling from behind a desk, and looked behind it to see a rather buxom woman wearing glasses with thick pink frames. This woman stood, brushing her bleach-blonde hair off of her shoulders and chuckling. Her body had clammy papers clinging to it desperately, that seemed to shift over her skin on its own.

"Who the hell are you?" Daisy grabbed the woman for a moment, but she was forced back by an unseen power. The woman chuckled.

"My name is Sunset. I assume you have a Stand, yes? Well, my Stand controls paper. By attacking you with my books, I was able to rub some liquid paper off on you, so I can control your body now, where the liquid paper is stuck." She began laughing loudly. "This is the power of my Stand- wait, where did the liquid paper go?"

Daisy placed a hand to her head and smirked. "Sorry, I didn't hear your over-the-top speech over my skin shedding." Flakes of skin had collected around her feet. "My Stand allows me to replicate insect physiology, don't forget. There are insects that shed their skins, so I just replicated that to shed that layer of liquid paper." She chuckled, raising her arms. "Now that I know what you can do, I'll just stay away from your tricks." A thin layer of silk spun itself around exposed parts of Daisy's body, excluding her eyes.

Sunset walked up to Daisy. "It's interesting to know you're still alive, honestly. I expected this to be a Plan B, just in case her move didn't put you in checkmate."

"Her move, eh? So she did do it." Daisy clenched her fists, before pushing Sunset down. "Tell me Tiffany's Stand power!"

"It's a secret. She'd kill me if I told someone outside her circle."

"She's using you!" Daisy pinned her, beginning to slap her. "She just wants to take over. She's committing real world crimes here. By doing this, you're an accomplice. You'll be expelled, imprisoned." Daisy sighed. "And I'm here on a visa. If you kill me, you could be taken to Australia for punishment. No family visits, no friendliness, not even a real shot at release in the near future."

Sunset chuckled. "I've weighed up the costs of my actions. The words you choose when you make choices that could change your life are just as important as the decision you make."

"Stop spewing that philosophical bullshit. She has you under her control. You have to see that!" Daisy slapped Sunset again, who pushed back.

Daisy was thrown off, and Sunset stood over her menacingly. "We may both have non-attacking Stands, but I'm stronger than you are. Didn't you just get out of the hospital?" Sunset kicked Daisy in the ribs three times in quick succession, before stamping on her shoulder. Daisy screamed in pain as one of her ribs cracked and her shoulder dislocated.

"S-Stop… Seriously, if you do much more damage you'll be in danger." Daisy tried to get up, but Sunset kicked her in the chest, which knocked her onto her back. Sunset then tried to break her kneecaps by smacking them with the heel of her shoe. Daisy squealed. She knew she would die if this kept up. Because of that, something primal in her awoke. A huge hit of adrenaline slammed her system, and her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. She snapped her shoulder back into place and kicked up, knocking Sunset off balance, before bringing out Bullet With Butterfly Wings to impale her hand.

"Augh! Fuck!" Sunset clutched at her wound, wincing in pain. "You're dead. You are so dead."

Daisy looked behind her to see books flying off the shelves. Her cracked rib was limiting her movement, and her arm and leg were still in pain. Because of this, she turned her head into a termite head, and burst her new mandibles through the silken protection on her face. She started to destroy the books, ripping them into a messy pulp. She didn't consume it, though; she assumed that Sunset could control her like that, if liquid paper worked.

"I'm dead, am I?" She returned her face to normal. There was an expressionless anger there, as well as some kind of twisted kindness. "Seems like you were wrong. I will not kill you, but you will not kill me. Do you get it yet?" Daisy smirked. "Your stupid Stand has nothing against mine. If you try to beat me up again, I'll just bulk my muscle up and overpower you physically. Insects are the most diverse and most numerous creature type on this planet. There is one out there somewhere that will beat you, no matter what. I might not know them all, but I know enough to beat your shitty paper control ability, and your raw strength."

Sunset sighed, slumping down. "Well, I suppose that's true."

"Where is everyone, anyway?" Daisy looked around. "You didn't kill them or lock them in a cupboard, right?"

"No. Tiffany just kind of declared that…" Sunset sighed. "That you had to die today. They left to give me some space, and distract the teacher."

Daisy smirked, stretching a bit. "Well, I'm going to send her a message that her warrant doesn't matter to me. I'm going to survive. Like I told her, I'm not a weak American. I'm not what she's used to." She then proceeded to tie Sunset up with silk, and leave for her next class. Sunset smirked. She was impressed by how driven Daisy was to live, especially after the reports that she'd risked her life to save others.

"I guess when there's nobody to save, she cuts loose a little. She's a teenager, after all." Sunset relaxed. "Still, Tiffany can't lose. Especially not against that ability."

Stand Name: "In Bloom"

Stand User: Sunset Cambridge

Power: E

Range: A

Speed: D

Durability: E

Precision: A

Potential: C


	17. Heart-Shaped Box

Anna-Rose walked into her science class, ready to enjoy a new lesson. However, she was somewhat shocked to see that nobody was in the class, before quickly realising. "God damnit." She put up her guard, quickly pulling some ball bearings from her backpack. "Okay, whoever set up this ambush, you've been caught. Come out from your hiding place, and-" Suddenly, Anna-Rose felt a tingling sensation in her feet. She looked down, and a pink spongey surface was bulging out of the floor, wrapping around her legs.

"What? Get off me!" She kicked against the stuff, but it sped up, beginning to encase her whole body. "Stop! Get away…" The mass of flesh consumed her entirely, before puffing out a little to give her some breathing room. "Sheesh. At least this thing isn't completely rude. I can still breathe for now." Anna-Rose couldn't see at all in the pitch blackness, but understood what it was. It felt like the inside of a person. She kept her feet off of the fleshy floor, in case some kind of acid started trickling into the chamber. It felt like soft sponge, or like a tongue. It was disgusting.

Anna-Rose summoned Eulogy to punch at the walls. The flesh absorbed the blows with ease. "Okay, that settles it. This thing has to be a Stand." She sighed. "Now, I guess I have to figure out how to beat it. If I had some space, I could probably get a Super Spin off and tear through it. However, in this situation…" She pushed against the flesh. "Too dark and cramped to pull one off."

After a few minutes, a section of the flesh went transparent, and Anna-Rose desperately pressed her face against it to look out. Staring back at her was a smirking woman with messy hair and cracked horn-rimmed glasses. She pulled up her lab coat a bit. "Look at the worm stuck in the trap. Watch her squirm."

"Who are you, and why are you doing this?" Anna-Rose pounded against the wall.

The woman on the outside chuckled. "My name is Sara, and I am a chemist working with you-know-who. She wants things done and I do them. She just so happened to desire your corpse today, so I'm happily obliging." Sara's wide smile terrified Anna-Rose silently. "My Stand, Heart-Shaped Box, will do something a little special for me first. It's going to turn you into my slave, so I can use you to make sure Daisy Stratter shares your fate. Do you understand?"

Anna-Rose smiled a bit. "Oh, alright. I understand now."

Sara was confused. "You understand? What do you mean by that? I'm going to kill you!"

Anna-Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. Just do it then." The bell rang; Anna had been inside Heart-Shaped box for an hour, and she had Maths next, with Daisy. "Or else you'll miss your opportunity to catch her."

"I know that!" Heart-Shaped Box began to fill with a pulpy gas, which Anna-Rose tried to avoid breathing in, but eventually had to inhale. She passed out, and Sara opened her Stand to let her out. "Well, well, how the mighty have fallen. Go to your next class now, and my pheromones will do their work."

Anna-Rose stood, her eyes dulled as if she were unconscious. "Okay." She shuffled off to her next class.

Stand Name: "Heart-Shaped Box"

Stand User: Sara Pluton

Power: E

Range: C

Speed: C

Durability: A

Precision: E

Potential: E

Daisy smelled a putrid odour approaching her mathematics classroom. It was almost a pheromone, but it smelled manufactured, and twisted. She was, once again, the only person in the class. If Sunset was to be believed, this entire day had been manufactured as a gauntlet for her and Anna-Rose, and a plot to kill them. She grabbed out her phone and called Delaware. "Hey, are you busy? I know you've got some university things to deal with and all, but we're in a bit of trouble."

Delaware, on the other side of the line, sighed. "I suppose I can swing around at 2pm. Can you stick around until then?"

"Maybe." Daisy gulped. Anna-Rose should be here. Was she already beaten? She was terrified, however when Anna-Rose entered the room she was even more so. Anna-Rose was coated in sticky faux pheromones. Daisy recalled her chess game with Tiffany all those months ago, and realised that it was one of her "inner circle" who had created it. It was a pheromone of control.

Anna-Rose sat down next to Daisy. "Hello, friend."

"Friend?" Daisy sighed. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I am fine." Anna-Rose sat back in her seat and smiled. "How has your day been?"

"The hell kind of question is that?" Daisy rubbed her face. "Anna, are you conscious? What is that smell on your body? Did you get beaten, or what-" Daisy jumped back as soon as she saw Eulogy's hand sail towards her. "That answers that. Sorry for this…" Daisy tapped Anna-Rose on the forehead, releasing a real control pheromone from it. Anna-Rose inhaled the gas before Daisy immediately released her control.

"What…" Anna-Rose looked around, confused. "What the hell happened? Am I… am I alive?"

Daisy smirked. "I beat that artificial pheromone with a real one. I bet you knew I'd do it, too."

Anna-Rose nodded. "Yeah, yeah… a girl named Sara, and her Stand, Heart-Shaped Box, trapped me and did it. I bet she's close with Tiffany."

"So you got attacked too. Great." Daisy sighed. "Let's catch this Sara, then. This should be interesting." She stood up and began to walk toward the science class, Anna-Rose trailing slowly. The school was completely empty. Daisy wondered if Sunset was telling the truth about why classes were drastically undermanned. "Did we get the wrong first day?"

"I doubt it." Anna-Rose shrugged. "I mean, I know Tiffany's powerful, but every member of staff and every student other than us being given a wrong first day to tell us while still showing upon the right day is absurd, to say the least."

Daisy nodded. "Still, I'm calling Reggie. She's insane, but she hates Tiffany just as much as we do. She'll tell the truth." She rang up Reggie, the bizarre girl who had attacked her months ago. Reggie picked up quickly.

"Hello, Reggie here. Who's speaking?"

Daisy sighed. "It's Daisy. Does school go back today?"

Reggie audibly chuckled. "Nope. Who told you that? It's next week."

"Shit." Daisy bit her lip. "Reggie, you need to get to school right now, or else Anna-Rose and I will be dead, and you'll be the easiest picking again."

"Wait, what the fuck? She's got you at school? She wants you dead?" Reggie hung up.

Daisy sighed, putting away her phone. "She's either coming or freaking out, or both. Let's stick around until then, okay?"

"Alright." Anna-Rose began to breathe heavily. She was thinking back to her fight with the poor girl who had been cursed with the Stand Matador. "Daisy, I'm scared. I don't want to really hurt anyone, but…"

"We'll die otherwise?" Daisy looked into Anna-Rose's eyes, who took note of the golden rectangles formed by Daisy's dilated pupils.

"Well, yes. We don't even know what Tiffany's Stand is, except for maybe Tania's death. Aren't you afraid?" Anna-Rose was shivering, but Daisy smirked.

"Jeez. Only a few months ago, our roles were basically flipped. In our fight with Alfonse, I was terrified and you were so calm. What changed?" Daisy looked concerned.

Anna-Rose grabbed Daisy's shoulder. "Daisy, I killed somebody. That's what changed. A Stand user that Tiffany had… stolen, she wasn't a person anymore, more like a puppet. Well, anyway, I had to kill her… to stop her Stand. I can't bear this. I can't deal with-" Daisy slapped Anna-Rose's cheek hard.

"Shut up and think about what you're saying. She was dead before you saw her, okay? Tiffany had taken everything. That should motivate you to beat her more, if she would let people die for her cause."

Anna-Rose rubbed her face for a moment, before nodding. "You're good at helping people, Daisy. I know it's a tired observation, but now more than ever I really understand how nice you are."

"Well, I come from a place where sticking together is everything. It's not like here, where everything is survival of the fittest."

"Yeah, I get that." Anna-Rose nodded. "Let's get this scientist." The two stepped into the science class, looking bold and ready to fight. Sara, sitting in the class, smirked.

"Oh, look who we have here. Anna-Rose, come here." Anna-Rose slowly marched over to Sara. "Lovely, lovely. Now, please-" Eulogy grabbed Sara by the throat. "What? What are you… doing?"

"You're an idiot. You forgot about something simple, didn't you? Daisy's ability…" Anna-Rose chuckled, tossing Sara to the ground. "Your fake pheromones are no match for the real deal, it seems. And how unfortunate for you."

"It doesn't matter. I still have my Heart-Shaped Box. I can easily trap you again!" Sara scuttled to her feet and began to laugh maniacally. "You'll both be my playthings soon enough!"

Anna-Rose sighed. "Oh well. Looks like talking big won't do it. Let me just give you a taste of what my Stand can do, then!" Eulogy began to throw punch after wicked punch. After about 30 blows, Anna-Rose halted her attack. "Now, leave us alone, or I'll give you 300 more."

"Ah… No! Please, no more!" Sara was bruised and battered, crawling along the ground to try and escape Eulogy's range. "I'll stop, I'll stop! Just never do that again! Your Stand is just as terrifying as Tiffany's!"

"You've seen it?" Daisy interjected. "What is its power? Tell us!"

Sara smirked. "I won't tell you outright… but know that her ability is one that will mean nothing can stand in the way of her path to glory and power."

"How helpful." Anna-Rose rolled her eyes. "Leave now. If I see you at school again until it actually starts, you're getting one hell of a beatdown."

Sara fled in fear as soon as the sentence was finished. Daisy and Anna-Rose sighed. They had a long first day left until they could leave. How they would be leaving, however, was another question entirely.


	18. Nirvana's Assault, Part 1

10:32 AM

Daisy and Anna-Rose sat down for a moment and both thought. Daisy thought of her mother, and prayed that she would be able to see her family again. She wasn't terribly religious, but she could turn to nobody else. Anna-Rose, on the other hand, just thought of how scared she was for Daisy's safety. She understood that she may not make it out of this fight, but if anything happened to her one friend, she'd probably lose it. Daisy broke the silence first.

"Are you ready to do this? We can always wait it out until help shows up. Reggie shouldn't take too long." Daisy grabbed Anna-Rose's shoulder, who pushed her away a bit.

"Well, no matter what, this has to happen. It's better if it happens while nobody's here. Delaware's going to be here at 2, and we can't rely on Reggie to be any faster than an hour on such short notice. She'll corner us if we run, if her Stand's power is as terrifying as people seem to think."

Daisy nodded. "Right. It's just… Anna, I'm scared. I'm really scared."

"You should be." A familiar malicious voice echoed from the corner.

Anna-Rose and Daisy stood, bringing out their Stands. "It's you!" Anna-Rose cried.

Daisy began to breathe raggedly. "Tiffany… how long have you been standing in that corner?"

"Long enough." Tiffany smirked, brushing her blonde locks out of her rounded face. "Daisy, I'm surprised to see you. Well, at least… you know. Alive." She chuckled. "Especially after I came to deal with you personally last night."

Daisy's heart skipped a beat. Tania's death… the internal bleeding… And now, Tiffany sneaking into the room unnoticed. "I get it. I know your power now, I get it!" She began to cackle uncontrollably. "You killed my roommate. The way you did it had to be a Stand power, but with no external damage… your Stand can phase through things. That's it, right?"

Tiffany's entire body began to twitch. "You… I can't believe you figured it out. How the hell do you keep outsmarting me, Daisy? Your ability and your knowledge… It's just unfair!" She stomped a little bit. "I'm supposed to be the best. I'm supposed to rule!"

Anna-Rose sighed. "Sheesh, you'd think she doesn't have a stupidly powerful ability. Phasing? Are you sure a Stand even has that kind of power?"

Tiffany looked down at the ground, and then quickly dropped through it. Daisy chuckled nervously. "You were saying?" She took off from the ground with a pair of butterfly wings. Anna-Rose gulped, running toward the wall to try and spring off of it. However, a hand reached up from the floor and tripped her. Tiffany climbed out of the ground, her Stand clinging to her. It was humanoid, mostly white with some pink detail and trim. It had a very strange baby face, and its chest was emblazoned with a cross.

"You wanted to see it so badly, Anna-Rose. Well, here it is. This is my Stand, Nirvana. And now, you will feel pain." Nirvana swung Anna-Rose around the room like a rag doll. Eulogy blocked a few of the blows, but it was too fast for her to keep up. Anna was tossed at the door with a lot of force, smacking the door off of its hinges. "It's funny, really. When I was very young, my parents wanted me to become a medical doctor. However, as a child I became obsessed with anatomy. I wanted to see it all from the inside. I was sent to a doctor after the family cat… well, I won't go into details, but it served me well as a young girl. After my visit with the doctor, my parents switched me to psychology. I was still obsessed with the human body, but I learnt how to control and manipulate. That serves me well."

"You… you killed your own cat? I knew you were crazy, but this is just terrible! Your Stand developed out of your obsession with destroying from the inside out. First the body, and now, the mind." Daisy gulped, while Tiffany advanced on her swiftly, grabbing at Daisy's top.

"Heh. I suppose. Stands are wonderful, aren't they? Especially ones like yours. They intrigue me. How much of your body can you change at once? What does it look like? How can you enhance yourself?" Tiffany smirked, rubbing her hands all over Daisy. "Your body is incredible. I want to study it completely. Maybe I will take you home, and experiment on your ability before I take you apart and see if you really are different from others."

Daisy pulled away from Tiffany. "Don't touch me! Stay away, you psycho!" She grabbed Anna-Rose, who was bruised and bleeding, with a broken arm. "Are you okay?" she whispered.

Anna-Rose nodded slowly. "I'm not paralysed. I could have been, though." Eulogy snapped her arm back into place with Spin. "Can you give me a sling?"

Daisy nodded, weaving a silk sling. "Done." Anna-Rose slid it on, sighing. "Jeez. She's really dangerous. She didn't touch you anywhere really bad, right?"

"Not yet. I just hope we win, at this rate. I don't know whether she wants to be a megalomaniac or a serial killer… or both." Daisy bit her lip, shivering. This threat was far beyond anything she had expected.

Tiffany hopped through the wall, climbing into the roof. Daisy gulped. "H-Hold on… just now, she looked at her feet as she put them in, and then her hands. Can she only phase into things she's looking at?"

Anna-Rose shrugged. "We can't bank on that as fact. Just stay as alert as you can. She can attack from anywhere, in any way. She could easily have killed me just now. She's obviously a sadist. She derives some sick pleasure from knowing people are suffering. That's why she manipulates people into bullying people like us."

Daisy made sure Bullet with Butterfly Wings's stinger was ready to fire. "Alright. Tell me if you see her."

"No, you tell me." Anna-Rose gulped, pulling out a steel ball. "She can phase through things. We need to catch her by surprise. Got it?"

At that moment, Nirvana appeared from the ceiling, smacking Anna-Rose in the back of the neck and knocking her out. Blood began to spurt from her mouth. Her spinal cord might have been damaged by that sneak attack. Daisy's eyes widened, and she stepped back in fear. "A… Anna…"

Nirvana relaxed in stance, as Tiffany walked through the wall. "Got her. One down…" She glanced at Daisy with a smug grin on her face. "That works very nicely." Daisy then noticed something incredible. Slowly, Eulogy began to manifest behind Tiffany, its normally expressionless face twisted with malice. It was protecting its user's life.

"OOOOORAAAAAA!" Eulogy slammed a punch into the back of Tiffany's head, charged with Super Spin from the golden ratio in Daisy's terrified face. Followed by twenty more. After that, Nirvana began swapping blows with Eulogy, but Eulogy quickly overpowered it. Tiffany was knocked into the desks, and Eulogy faded away. Daisy ran over to Anna-Rose, tears welling in her eyes. She grabbed the back of her neck, which was swollen with blood. The bones in her neck were broken. She felt cold to the touch.

Daisy could only for a moment contain her bubbling sadness. "No… you can't be…" She collapsed in wailing sobs, mourning more than just a lost friend. She was mourning her own life. She couldn't beat Nirvana in combat, if Tiffany could still fight after Eulogy's final stand. The fight had ended with Anna-Rose's life. It just depended heavily on whether that was a good or a bad thing.

11:05 AM

Reggie walked up to the campus of the New York School for Specialist Children. Ambulances were outside, and one was rushing Anna-Rose out of the building. "What's going on?" A paramedic looked at the strange and ragged Reggie, and raised an eyebrow.

"Little girl, there seems to be a killer on the loose in that school. This girl here barely escaped with a pulse, and her neck is broken. Luckily it looks like she'll recover, but as far as we know there's still one victim in there with the unnamed attacker. I would recommend you not to go inside."

Reggie sighed. "I attend this school. I know that girl. Can I please go in to try and help get the other victim out?"

The paramedic nodded. "Do what you feel you have to, I suppose. We'll leave one ambulance here, and call police. You get your friend out safe, okay?"

"I can try." Reggie turned and walked into the building, knowing that her Stand could beat Tiffany if she could get eye contact. However, it was going to be all about time.

Stand Name: "Nirvana"

Stand User: Tiffany Delle Rosse

Power: B

Range: C

Speed: A

Durability: D

Precision: A

Potential: C


	19. Nirvana's Assault, Part 2

11:13 AM

"Delaware, get off your ass and get here now!" Daisy screamed into her phone. Tiffany was stirring, and Anna-Rose had just been rushed to hospital. "Anna-Rose is dead, or crippled, or something, I don't know! You need to come now!"

"Wait, hold on, what? Anna's…" Delaware gulped. "I'll bring Liam and Sally too. I'll have to brief them on Stands on the way, though."

"Don't care. The person who killed her, Tiffany, her Nirvana's power is phasing. Anything in her line of sight she can phase through. You have to be really careful, okay?"

"Got it, got it." Delaware gulped, hanging up, and ringing his friends. "Okay, I'm coming to pick you up. Daisy from a few months ago is about to die, I'll explain on the way."

Daisy put away her phone and started to back away. Tiffany was conscious, so she could activate Nirvana subconsciously and attack. She needed to keep her distance. She basically had one shot to win, and that was her stinger. She needed to get a direct hit to her back to win, like what Eulogy did. "It must have held back. Anna-Rose could have destroyed Tiffany's head with Eulogy, but she only knocked her out. Mustn't have wanted me to get in trouble for Tiffany's death." She ran from the room and locked the door, despite knowing it wouldn't do anything.

She left down the corridor, bumping into a familiar face, sunglasses shrouding her eyes. "Thank God you showed up, Reggie."

Reggie sighed. "You're calmer than I expected you'd be, given the mess outside. Is Tiffany still here?"

Daisy nodded, holding back tears. "Y-Yeah. Anna-Rose's Stand did a number on her, but only knocked her out for a while. She's waking up around now." She turned around. "Tiffany's Stand power is phasing. She could come from anywhere and kill you in many different ways. Her only weakness is attacking from behind. She can only go through things she's looking at."

Reggie sighed. "I need eye contact to activate Black Bugs. She probably won't be able to shake it off, but the fact that she can just walk through me is honestly terrifying. I don't know if I'll really be any use. Sorry."

"Don't worry." Daisy chuckled. "I've put on a lot of weight, so I'm not gonna be faster than her. I can't win in a straight fight against her Stand, but I do have one trick up my sleeve." She pulled a Steel Ball out of her pocket. "I got this from Anna-Rose. It has some kind of Stand power I can unlock if I toss it right after skidding my bike. It can cut into anything, so I'm kind of hoping it can beat Tiffany's phasing."

Reggie raised an eyebrow. "How could a hunk of metal have a Stand?"

"I've seen it. Trust me, it'll do for our purposes, even if it's not really a Stand." Daisy tucked away the steel ball, before she noticed a white shoulder poking out of the hallway's wall. She pulled Reggie away as Nirvana shot its arm out, grasping for something. Nirvana, followed closely by its master, phased through into the hall. Tiffany was bleeding and incredibly angry.

"You…" She was breathing heavily, and her jaw quivered in anger. "Why is there another one trying to meddle with me? I'm tired of this." Nirvana ripped up a locker from the hall and tossed it at Daisy and Reggie. Daisy bulked up using ant strength and caught it. "And you still have the capacity to want to beat me, Daisy? Are you really insane? You know what I did to your friend. You can't stick it out any longer than I can."

"Maybe not." Daisy put the locker down. "However, you of all people should know what power comes in numbers. Insects are numerous. Even in this school." Hundreds of fire ants began to climb up Daisy's legs. "You're outnumbered, Tiffany. Even in the walls, in the floors, in the roof, I have a way to fight. And best of all, insects are unseen. Look. You have spider's silk caught in your hair."

Tiffany pulled the webbing from her ponytail, scowling.

"That means you can't see that which hides within your walls. Insects, spiders, even dangerous chemicals. Is it really safe to keep attacking from every angle?" Daisy chuckled. "Right now, I'm 20 times stronger than I was, thanks to the power of the humble ant. I can match your Nirvana's strength all on my own. This fight ends now, in this corridor."

"I agree." Tiffany chuckled. "This fight is really over!" She swung a kick at Daisy's legs, who blocked it with her own kick. However, Nirvana appeared and threw a hard punch at Daisy's stomach, which winded her and knocked her over. Reggie grabbed Tiffany from behind and threw her away before she could do any more damage to Daisy. Tiffany then pinned Reggie, smirking. "I never liked you either, you know. Now, die."

Reggie slipped off her glasses, staring into Tiffany's eyes. "No, you."

Tiffany stumbled back, now under the effect of Black Bugs. "Wha… what are you doing to me? You bitch!" Her vision blurred, and she completely fell over. "I'll kill you… I can hardly see anything! What kind of Stand is this?"

Daisy was both horrified and pleased that Black Bugs was mounting its attack. "Thank you, Reggie. You may have just saved my life." She struggled to catch her breath. Reggie nodded, smirking.

"Yeah, no problem. You saved mine just now, after all. I'm glad we're able to put our past behind us." She smiled weakly.

Tiffany began to whimper. "I need sunlight… There's got to be a way out. I'll get outside, and then it'll all be okay…"

Reggie sighed. "I'll stop Black Bugs's attack if you get the hell out of this school and turn yourself in for the crimes you've committed."

"I have done no wrong. Everything I do is for the betterment of this school, and this world." Tiffany chuckled, standing up. "I don't need your help to survive. I will just kill you and stop your attack myself." She bolted toward Reggie, but instead of passing through her, just bumped into her and fell down. "My vision… I can't use my ability!" She stumbled back. "Okay, okay. You win. Just undo your attack… and I'll go."

Reggie chuckled. "That's good." She sent Black Bugs back into her body. "You're free to turn yourself in now. Good luck walking to the police station."

"Thank you…" Tiffany stood up and started to walk away. "You dumbass." Nirvana launched itself at Daisy, preparing a final attack. Daisy, who hadn't dropped her guard, leapt away and used Bullet with Butterfly Wings's shot to counterattack. Tiffany couldn't recall Nirvana in time, and took the attack full on. It slammed into her right shoulder, cracking it and sending her flying down the hall.

"I got her!" Daisy was glad for only a moment, before realising the gravity of it. She had attacked Tiffany, while she herself was rather unharmed. She would look like the attacker, to everybody else. She gulped, walking up toward Tiffany slowly. "Are you… alright?"

Nirvana appeared, grabbing Daisy by the neck and forcing her to the ground. Tiffany pinned her and began to tear at her clothes. "You're so impressive! I must look at you right now! I have to tear you open and see how you tick! For someone to best me so many times, you have to be some kind of prodigy! I need to see you!" Daisy was terrified. Why did she have to think about that? She tried to push back, but she could not. Time was ticking. Delaware, the police, someone would storm in soon. She had to hold onto that hope. Reggie tackled Tiffany in an attempt to knock her off, but Nirvana pushed her back. "Both of you are so incredible! How can you keep fighting? I need to know!"

Daisy reached into her pocket and managed to extract the steel ball. Her last hope. She only barely understood how Spin worked, but she flicked the ball with her wrist. It slid along the ground, spinning a little bit. Tiffany chuckled. "Useless. You're still mine, Daisy. That little artefact won't change a thing-" The ball slammed into the side of her head after leaping from the ground. Tiffany fell over, completely unconscious. It was only a little bit of Spin, from a novice, but it was enough to beat the exhausted and crazed Tiffany, if only for a second. Daisy scuttled away from Tiffany, quickly fixing her torn shirt with silk.

"She…" Daisy began to cry. She was violated, and felt only complete fear at this monster in a girl's body. She hadn't felt this afraid since her encounter with Reggie's Black Bugs. "We need to leave. Now." She bolted down the hallway, heading for the main door. Reggie followed close behind. After only a few seconds, Tiffany was back up, trying to cut the two off.

11:45 AM

Delaware, Sally and Liam pulled up at the New York School for Specialist Children. Liam was still trying to get his head around the crazy story that Delaware had just told. "Del, you're telling me you have some kind of superpower, and that girl we played ball with one time has one too, and she's fighting a superhuman psychopath who can walk through walls?"

"That's the gist of it, yes." Delaware nodded. "You don't have to stay. This is going to be dangerous, no matter what happens."

Sally sighed. "Look, I think I get it. I've been feeling weird myself recently. I thought I was pushing my training too hard, but I guess maybe I'm getting close to getting one of these Stand things." She rubbed her head. "Daisy needs our help, right? She's in there with someone who could do anything. We have to help."

The three walked closer to the doors, but two paramedics stopped them. "Police are stationing themselves all around the campus. There are two innocents in there. We're not letting anyone else through."

Just then, Daisy and Reggie dove outside, hiding out of sight. Delaware was stunned. "Daisy… what happened? Is everything okay?"

"No." Daisy was trembling. "She… she's completely lost it. She wants to dismember me. If there was ever a functioning human being behind her facade, that person is gone."

Delaware grit his teeth and clenched his fists. "What kind of scum would do that? I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind!" Sally began to breathe heavily, a silvery translucent figure appearing behind her.

"That monster. You're such a good person, too. Life just isn't fair, is it?" Sally got into a defensive stance. "All I know is, we have her cornered. She's a goner."

11:57 AM

Tiffany walked out of the school doors coolly, grinning. "I was doing some study. Is anything the matter?" Her dislocated shoulder and bloody face showed that she had been attacked, but her charisma and cool personality meant that only Daisy, Reggie and the group of basketball players knew who she really was. The paramedics quickly walked up to her.

"Are you alright? Were you hurt by the person who was attacking students here? Is the maniac still inside the school?"

"Oh, that." Tiffany glared at Daisy with a smirk. "I don't know. I think they escaped."

Stand Name: "Heaven Is a Halfpipe"

Stand User: Sally Parks

Power: A

Range: E

Speed: A

Durability: C

Precision: C

Potential: A


	20. Stand School's Mutiny

12:00 PM

Tiffany stepped onto the ambulance, smiling. She was going to get away. She could get back at Anna-Rose while in the hospital. She was saved. That was until Daisy pulled out her phone. She spoke loudly so Tiffany could hear. "Oh? Anna-Rose has woken up, has she? Can you put her on the phone? She can barely speak? Don't worry, I'll put her on speaker. Thank you, sir."

Tiffany flinched a little. "What?"

Anna-Rose's voice came from the monitor. "Daisy, did you beat Tiffany? I can't believe she was able to shatter my neck in one blow. That's some crazy power."

"Don't worry, friend, I just won." Daisy chuckled. "Talk to you in a few weeks!" She hung up, smirking. The police officers and paramedics turned to face Tiffany as she climbed into the ambulance. The girl began to shake with fear and anger.

"Y-You…" She turned around, tossing Nirvana at Daisy and the others. Sally's Stand automatically blocked the attack, kicking Nirvana away. Wheels sprouted from its back as it slid onto it, both Nirvana and Tiffany being flung back into the ambulance.

"Checkmate, Tiffany." Daisy smirked. A few people on the street turned around, some students of the school. They started to walk over, calling friends and talking about Tiffany being cornered and beaten. Daisy took the opportunity to speak.

"This girl - no, this monster is a murderer. She has killed and injured people today. She killed my flatmate this morning, and injured my friend before trying to violate and kill me. If not for some good luck and thinking, I would not be standing right now. And this monster rules a private school's social structure. I wonder how that kind of thing could ever happen?" She sighed. "But she has broken rules! I'm going to file a police report against her for what she did to me. Then she'll be expelled, and we can start anew!"

Reggie sighed. "You'd take her place?"

"No, I'd remove her place. We shouldn't be a regime. This is school. Why not just be kids?" Daisy chuckled, trying to remain jovial despite the waves of emotion trying to break free. "Oh, and Sally? That's a cool Stand. What are you gonna name it?"

"Well, it gives things wheels… so I'll name it Heaven Is a Halfpipe." Sally smiled. "Since it turned Nirvana into a skateboard."

"Good name." Delaware smiled as well. "Daisy, Reggie, do you need medical attention at all? I don't think you look too bad…"

Daisy sighed. "Ironically, I think I need to see a psychologist. Or maybe, I need to never see a psychologist again in my life."

Reggie pouted. "Come on, I'm a psychologist! You'd really do that to me?"

"Oh, right. Never mind, the former seems much more apt." She laughed. The others joined in, except Liam.

"I am so confused right now… Oh well, I suppose that's just how it is. I can't know it all." He smiled, as the police closed in around Tiffany.

"You're under arrest. Do not resist." Tiffany sighed, allowing herself to be handcuffed. She understood that if she attacked, she'd probably be shot from behind.

Daisy was solemn as Tiffany was taken to the police car. She spoke up as she passed Daisy. "I take it all back. You disgust me."

"Good. Wouldn't have it any other way." Daisy scowled as Tiffany was locked in the police vehicle and driven away. Daisy then collapsed, completely exhausted. Paramedics took her into an ambulance and left. The other four sighed.

"What a day." Reggie yawned. "I'm beat. Still another week until school goes back, so I need to work hard, since it's my final year of high school and all."

"You're seventeen?" Delaware and Sally jumped back. "You're so short, though!" Sally exclaimed.

Reggie rolled her eyes. "You're an athlete. You're just tall."

Time moved forward. Daisy and Anna-Rose were eventually discharged from hospital, and after a few months of rehabilitation Anna-Rose was completely healed. Tiffany was tried and convicted for murder and first-degree assault, being sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years. America Stand School closed down as a result of government inquiries uncovering a severe lack of staff care for students. Daisy, Anna-Rose, Reggie and many others moved on to the University of New York after graduation, all pursuing their dreams, with Anna-Rose taking a doctorate, Daisy pursuing veterinary science, and Reggie going for psychiatry. One day at the university, the group of old friends sat down at a television and turned on the Olympics, to watch Sally play in the basketball finals. The American team lost, but it was still exciting and incredible, and they were excited all the same.

Ten years had come and gone since the fight with Tiffany. Finally, Daisy had decided to leave America and return home. Anna-Rose was standing at the airport with her, clutching her new physics doctorate tightly. "You'd better fuckin' visit, you hear?"

"Watch your mouth." Daisy chuckled. "I'll come back sometime. You'd better not die before then."

Anna-Rose rolled her eyes. "Coming from you, that almost feels like a compliment. I'll be fine."

"You say that now." Daisy giggled, before grabbing Anna-Rose in a bear hug. "I'll miss you, you overcomplicated dumbass."

"I'll miss you too, you big softie." Anna-Rose smiled. "You'd better not miss your flight."

"Okay." Daisy picked up her bags and began to walk off. "Bye for now."

"Bye for now." Anna-Rose waved her off, fighting back tears. "I hope you fly swift and safe."

Daisy didn't even try to hide her tears, allowing Bullet with Butterfly Wings to show itself, and give her greatest friend a final wave goodbye.

Stand Name: "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"

Stand User: Daisy Stratter

Power: C

Range: B

Speed: A

Durability: D

Precision: A

Potential: C

~The End~


End file.
